NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that Turkey had dropped its block on a plan to bolster the defences of Baltic states and Poland against Russia.
He told a news conference after an alliance summit outside London that NATO leaders did not discuss the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey views as a terrorist organisation.
Ahead of the summit, Ankara had refused to back the NATO defence plan for the Baltics and Poland until it received more support for its battle with the YPG, including other alliance members recognising it as a terrorist group.
In a final press conference after the summit, Stoltenberg also said that NATO was in favour of dialogue and a better relationship with Russia, and believed that China should be part of future arms limitations or reductions talks.
Nothing in return
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan did not issue demands in return for an agreement to back NATO's defence plans for Poland and the Baltic states, Lithuania's president said on Wednesday.
"No one demanded anything from us for this. We all thanked President Erdogan for his solidarity", Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told journalists in London, after the earlier meeting between Erdogan and leaders of Poland and the Baltics.
Turkey had previously said it would oppose NATO's plan unless the alliance accepted Turkey's designation of certain groups as terrorists, including the Kurdish YPG militia.
Turkey's voice
Turkey's point of view must be acknowledged in NATO debates, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Wednesday, after Turkey agreed to back a defence plan for the Baltics and Poland on Wednesday at the NATO summit near London.
Duda also said that while Poland disagreed with Russia on some things and some Russian actions were unacceptable, the countries were neighbours.
The West has made Russian deterrence a more pressing priority since Moscow annexed Crimea from Poland's eastern neighbour Ukraine in 2014.
NATO leaders set aside public insults ranging from "delinquent" to "brain dead" and "two-faced" on Wednesday, declaring at a 70th anniversary summit they would stand together against a common threat from Russia and prepare for China's rise.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: twitter.com/BBN_PL