UPDATE - Top Turkish, Estonian diplomats discuss NATO enlargement, Ukraine war

UPDATES WITH TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER’S MEETING WITH PORTUGUESE COUNTERPART

By Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) – Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday met with his Estonian counterpart Urmas Reinsalu on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Bucharest, Romania.

“NATO enlargement and recent developments regarding the war in Ukraine were on our agenda,” Cavusoglu said on Twitter.

Estonia is a former Soviet republic bordering Russia – like Ukraine, but less than one-tenth as large, and about one-fortieth the population.

Later on Tuesday, Cavusoglu also met with his Portuguese counterpart Joao Cravinho in Bucharest.

“We discussed economic relations, NATO enlargement and latest developments in Ukraine,” Cavusoglu said in a separate Twitter post.

By NATO enlargement, Cavusoglu was almost certainly referring to the bids by Sweden and Finland to join the alliance.

Both formally applied to join NATO in May, abandoning decades of military non-alignment, a decision spurred by Russia’s war against Ukraine.

But Türkiye – a NATO member for over 70 years – voiced objections to their membership bids, accusing the two countries of tolerating and even supporting terror groups.

Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum in June at the NATO summit in Madrid to address Ankara’s legitimate security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership.

During the two-day Bucharest meeting, Cavusoglu is also expected to meet with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, among his counterparts from NATO member states.