NATO chief to visit Turkey, meet Erdogan, PM Davutoglu

ANKARA

The chief of NATO will pay a two-day visit to Turkey starting Wednesday to discuss preparations for the bloc’s Warsaw, Poland summit this July.

In a statement, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will be received by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavusoglu, and Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz.

The statement added that Stoltenberg will also address "challenges emanating from the security situation on NATO’s southeastern border as well as implementation of the Alliance’s assurance measures for Turkey.

"In this framework, it is expected that views will be exchanged on issues stemming from the Middle East and North Africa, primarily Iraq, Syria, and Daesh, and NATO’s activity in the Aegean Sea.”

Speaking at the Atlantic Council think-tank earlier this month, Stoltenberg said, “Without Turkey it would have been much more difficult to, for instance, conduct many of the airstrikes and so on fighting ISIL [Daesh]."

Crucially, Turkey is the NATO ally “most affected” by the influx of refugees prompted by conflicts in neighboring Iraq and Syria, he added.

"We are also responding to the conflict in Syria by supporting Turkey -- bordering Syria and Iraq, we have assurance measures, [a] NATO presence in Turkey," he said.

The Warsaw summit will be held on July 8-9.

ANKARA

The chief of NATO will pay a two-day visit to Turkey starting Wednesday to discuss preparations for the bloc’s Warsaw, Poland summit this July.

"In this framework, it is expected that views will be exchanged on issues stemming from the Middle East and North Africa, primarily Iraq, Syria, and Daesh, and NATO’s activity in the Aegean Sea.”

Crucially, Turkey is the NATO ally “most affected” by the influx of refugees prompted by conflicts in neighboring Iraq and Syria, he added.

"We are also responding to the conflict in Syria by supporting Turkey -- bordering Syria and Iraq, we have assurance measures, [a] NATO presence in Turkey," he said.

The Warsaw summit will be held on July 8-9.