NATO chief, Greek FM to attend Erdogan's inauguration

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg is set to visit Türkiye to attend the Saturday inauguration of re-elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and hold bilateral talks.

In a statement on Friday, NATO said Stoltenberg would attend Erdogan's inauguration after the Turkish president was last week re-elected to serve another five-year term.

The statement said the visit would extend into Sunday and Stoltenberg would "have bilateral meetings with President Erdogan and with senior Turkish officials".

Stoltenberg said on Thursday during a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Norway that he would soon visit Ankara to work towards Sweden joining "as early as possible", after speaking with Erdogan by phone earlier this week.

Greece's Foreign Minister Vasilis Kaskarelis will also attend Erdogan's inauguration ceremony, the Greek Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.

Kaskarelis will also attend a dinner to be hosted by Turkish president on Saturday for foreign government representatives, the ministry added.

Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will also attend Erdogan's swearing-in ceremony, according to a statement by the country's cabinet of ministers press service released on Friday.

Sweden's NATO bid

On Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called Sweden to fulfil its commitments in fight against FETO and PKK terror groups, adding "rest will follow" to begin ratification of country’s NATO bid.

After the Russia-Ukraine war began in February last year, Finland and Sweden decided to abandon their decades-long military non-alignment policies and apply for NATO membership.

However, Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, asked the two Nordic countries to take concrete action against terrorist groups such as the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) in order for them to join the alliance.

In June last year, Finland and Sweden signed a memorandum with Türkiye to address Ankara’s security concerns, and senior diplomats and officials from the three countries held various meetings to discuss the implementation of a trilateral agreement.

In March, the Turkish government said it would approve the process of Finland's NATO membership in parliament, adding that Finland had done what was necessary for the membership, whereas Sweden still had work to do.

On March 31, the Turkish parliament approved Finland's bid to join the alliance.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the US and the European Union — has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.