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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will attend a two-day NATO summit in The Hague on June 24–25, Türkiye’s communications director said.
On X, Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said Monday that NATO leaders will engage in strategic-level discussions on threats and risks facing the Euro-Atlantic region.
A new defense investment pledge, aimed at increasing allied defense spending to meet current security needs, is expected to be a key topic at the summit, Altun said. He added that NATO’s deterrence and defense posture in response to core threats identified by the alliance will also be discussed.
Erdogan is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with several heads of state and government on the sidelines of the summit..
The summit is expected to focus on collective defense, new capability goals, and long-term support for Ukraine.
On the eve of the summit, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reaffirmed that Ukraine’s path to NATO membership—declared “irreversible” at last year’s summit in Washington—remains unchanged.
“Last year in Washington, NATO allies agreed that for Ukraine there is an irreversible path of Ukraine to enter NATO. And that is still true today, and it will still be true on Thursday after this summit,” Rutte said Monday at a press conference in The Hague.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to attend the summit on Tuesday and Wednesday, where Ukraine’s allies will work “to ensure that Ukraine is in the best possible position as we go into the next stage of this conflict,” according to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
NATO allies are poised to take a “quantum leap” in defense spending to counter the threat posed by Russia, Rutte said.
The alliance’s 32 members are set to pledge an increase in defense expenditure to five percent of gross domestic product—a key demand of former U.S. President Donald Trump, who has long criticized what he sees as disproportionate American spending on NATO.
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Members have negotiated a compromise to dedicate at least 3.5 percent of GDP to core military needs by 2035, and 1.5 percent to broader security-related areas such as cybersecurity and infrastructure.
“The defense investment plan that allies will agree in The Hague introduces a new baseline—five percent of GDP to be invested in defense,” Rutte said at the pre-summit news conference. “This is a quantum leap that is ambitious, historic and fundamental to securing our future.”
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