29 apr 2024 om 12:01 Update: 4 min. geleden
Turkey supports outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte as NATO leader. The country has communicated this to its NATO allies, the news agency reports Reuters. Rutte visited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last Friday to gain support for the job.
After that conversation, Erdogan made no commitments. The Turkish president wished Rutte good luck with the further course of his campaign for NATO leadership. The support was officially confirmed by the government in Ankara on Monday, shortly after ANP it reported based on diplomats in Brussels.
Rutte could already count on the support of 28 of NATO’s 32 member states. The most important support comes from Washington, because in practice the Americans have by far the most influence within NATO. Support from the United States often proves decisive, but the appointment ultimately requires approval from all member states.
Due to Turkey’s support, only Slovakia, Romania and Hungary still need to agree. The Romanians have Rutte’s only remaining competitor in the race for NATO leadership with their President Klaus Iohannis.
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Rutte will not visit Orbán for support
The most resistance is expected from notorious obstructionist Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary. That country is the only country that has publicly spoken out against Rutte’s candidacy.
According to Rutte, no further visits are planned to seek support for his candidacy, “not even with Orbán”.
Diplomatic ties between Ankara and The Hague have not always been the best in recent years. Relations reached a low point in 2017 when a Turkish minister who wanted to campaign for a referendum in Turkey was expelled from the country. Erdogan then called the Netherlands a remnant of Nazism and fascism.
NATO post will be released in October
Despite any hindrance from Budapest, the path to NATO leadership appears to be open to Rutte. This would make him the fourth Dutch NATO boss in the history of the military alliance, which was founded in 1949.
This would also end the term of Jens Stoltenberg, who has been in charge of NATO since 2014. In early 2023, he extended his term to lead the alliance during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which was then less than a year old. His current term ends on October 1.
It is expected that it will be a matter of weeks before the successor to the Norwegian Secretary General will be announced.
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