On Friday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan had a telephone conversation with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. On this occasion, Erdogan told Rutte, who is running for the post of NATO chief, that Ankara will support the candidate based on its expectations and needs, the Turkish presidency said, quoted by Reuters.

Erdogan also told Rutte that Turkey expects the new head of the security alliance to serve the needs and interests of allies in the fight against terrorism and take into account the sensitivities of non-EU allies, the press reported. dismissal from the position of the president of Turkey.

The successor to Jens Stoltenberg, whose mandate at the top of NATO ends in October, will take over the leadership of the alliance at a crucial time, having to convince allies to continue supporting Ukraine in the war started by Russia, but at the same time to prevent a dangerous escalation that would drag NATO into open military conflict with Russia .

We will remind, on March 12, Klaus Iohannis announced his candidacy for the post of NATO head at a specially convened press conference in Bucharest. This is in the conditions when Mark Rutte was considered the favorite for the post of NATO Secretary General. The United States, Great Britain and France announced on February 22 that they support the Prime Minister of the Netherlands to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as the Secretary General of NATO, which gives the Dutch politician a strong position to get the post, writes Reuters.

Who is Mark Rutte, Johannis’ counter-candidate for the post of NATO leader?

Mark Rutte, with whom President Klaus Iohannis officially entered the race for NATO secretary general, is the longest-serving prime minister in the history of the Netherlands and is currently acting as an interim as coalition talks are deadlocked. in the Netherlands since November, when the Freedom Party led by Geert Wilders won a shock victory in the parliamentary elections, but without a clear majority.

Depending on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November, the next NATO secretary general could go to a second term for former Republican President Donald Trump, who recently questioned the U.S. willingness to come to the aid of allies. which do not allocate 2% of GDP to defense. His words at a campaign rally caused consternation among European allies and were roundly condemned by some leaders in Europe.

But Rutte, who has been seen as the front-runner since last year to become the new head of the Alliance, recently said that Europe “must stop whining, whining and nagging” about Trump and instead focus on what it can do for Ukraine. “We have to work with whoever is on the dance floor,” he said at the Munich Security Conference.

Rutte, the longest-serving prime minister in the Netherlands’ history, unexpectedly announced last July that he would retire from politics, but remains in the interim role as Dutch parties failed to form a governing coalition after parliamentary elections in November, which he won Freedom Party led by Geert Wilders.

How the Secretary General of NATO is elected

The Secretary General of NATO is a high-ranking (civilian) political figure of a NATO member state, who is appointed by the member states for a four-year term. The selection is made through informal diplomatic consultations between the member countries that propose candidates for the position.

No decision is confirmed until consensus is reached on a single candidate. The post is traditionally held by a high-ranking European political figure.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg categorically ruled out the possibility of remaining at the head of the Alliance after October of this year, when his term of office expires, as his authority has already been extended due to the start of the war in Ukraine.

The name of Klaus Iohannis has also been mentioned as a successor to Jens Stoltenberg as the head of NATO in the past. Before the extension of the powers of the current NATO Secretary General, the president was on the list of possible successors.