Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State
Crete, Greece
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Good evening, everyone. So we had, I think, a very productive day of meetings both in Türkiye and here in Greece with both our Turkish and Greek Allies and partners. We talked about our NATO Alliance, the tremendous solidarity that we have and continue to have in supporting Ukraine against the Russian aggression. We talked a little about steps to prepare for the NATO Summit that will take place in Washington early this summer. And we also focused on what both countries have done through the leadership of President Erdogan and Prime Minister Mitsotakis to bring Greece and Türkiye closer together, including the summit meeting that both leaders had just last month.
In Türkiye, we also focused extensively on what Türkiye can do, using its influence, using its ties, to help prevent the conflict in the Middle East from spreading. And we also talked about the role that Türkiye can play both in the day after for Gaza in terms of the challenging questions of governance, Palestinian-led governance, security, rebuilding, as well as the work that it can do with others to try to produce more lasting, durable peace and security in the region. In – and of course, in Türkiye we also talked about the final steps in the process to ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO in the coming weeks.
