NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will visit Ankara April 21–22 for meetings with senior Turkish officials ahead of a NATO leaders summit scheduled to take place in the capital in July, the alliance said in a statement on Monday.
Rutte is expected to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Defense Minister Yaşar Güler during the visit. He will also tour a defense industry facility, NATO said, adding that no media events are planned and photographs will be released after the meetings.
The visit comes as Turkey prepares to host the NATO summit on July 7–8 at the presidential complex in Ankara. It will be the second time Turkey hosts a NATO summit, following a 2004 meeting in İstanbul.
Announcing the venue last year, Rutte described Turkey as a longstanding ally that has contributed to the alliance’s security for more than 70 years, adding that leaders gathering in Ankara will focus on strengthening NATO and addressing evolving security challenges.
Ahead of the summit, Ankara has called on allies to use the meeting to recalibrate relations with the United States and prepare for the possibility of a reduced American role in the alliance.
Speaking to the state-run Anadolu news agency, Fidan said last week that the summit should help establish a more predictable framework for ties with US President Donald Trump, whose past criticism of NATO has raised concerns among member states.
“The transatlantic security architecture has been under a major test over the past year,” Fidan said, pointing to growing strains in relations between the United States and European allies.
Tensions within NATO have intensified in recent years over defense spending and strategic priorities, including disagreements related to the war in Ukraine and the US-Israeli war on Iran.