Turkish President Erdogan attends NATO summit in US

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the NATO leaders' summit in the US on Wednesday.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and US President Joe Biden greeted each head of state and government, including Erdogan, as they arrived at the venue for the three-day summit, which is set to end Thursday.

Erdogan and other NATO leaders posed for a family photo before Stoltenberg and Biden delivered welcoming remarks.

The Turkish president is expected to hold sideline meetings with some of his fellow leaders at the summit.

Later Wednesday, Biden and first lady Jill Biden will host a dinner for the leaders and their spouses.

The summit, set to address the challenges facing the alliance and seek to further strengthen NATO’s deterrence and defense, also includes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and heads of delegation of NATO's partners in the Asia-Pacific region.

On Tuesday, Stoltenberg celebrated NATO's 75th anniversary with all 32 leaders in the group.

In a speech at the Mellon Auditorium, where the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in 1949 by 12 countries, he underlined that NATO is "not only the most successful and strongest, but also the longest-lasting alliance in history."

At the end of the event, Biden presented Stoltenberg with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the US’ highest civilian honor, in recognition of his decade of service at the helm of the alliance.

Türkiye – a member of NATO for over 70 years – joined the alliance in 1952.