Erdoğan meets EU officials, Macron ahead of NATO summit in Brussels

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with European officials and the newly elected French President Emanuel Macron on the sidelines of a NATO summit, in which he is expected to seek more support from the bloc for Turkey’s anti-terror efforts.

He held a meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on the sidelines of the summit.

Earlier in May, Erdoğan had said that Brussels had no other “option” than to open new “chapters” in Turkey’s long-stalled EU accession process, which began in 2005.

The meeting with Macron reportedly took place at Wiltcher’s Steigenberger Hotel on Thursday and was closed to the press.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also attended the meeting.

The president will also hold meetings with world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Theresa May, as well as top EU officials ahead of the summit.

Prior to his arrival in Brussels, Erdoğan said terrorism is not the problem of a single country, but the entire world and highlighted that NATO needs to be more active, more supportive for allies in the fight against terrorism.