Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country’s relations with Russia are “expanding” and that Ukraine’s NATO membership is not a matter “to be rushed,” NBC reported.
“And when making our minds, when we are taking our decisions, we always take into consideration the stance of other NATO member states, we discuss those possible questions around the table and make the final decision accordingly,” Erdogan told NBC on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
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In order for a country to join NATO, all 32 NATO members must approve.
Turkey initially blocked the accession of Sweden and Finland into NATO, which sought to join the defensive organization shortly after Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
It eventually backed down after winning political concessions, however.
Erdogan has also come under criticism for accepting an invitation to join the BRICS conference in Russia next month, which includes a bloc of developing countries led by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South America.
“Our relations with Russia are multi-dimensional, political, economic, cultural, defense industry related,” Erdoğan said. “There are many dimensions, dimensions there and our solidarity, our interaction, has been going on and economically every day, these relations are expanding.”
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