NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has thanked Türkiye, the US, Egypt, and Qatar for their efforts in securing a ceasefire in Gaza, calling it “an enormous step.”
Responding to a question from Mevlut Cavusoglu, head of the Turkish delegation and a lawmaker from Türkiye’s AK Party, at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly held on Monday in Slovenia, Rutte noted Ankara’s role in brokering the truce that took effect on Friday.
“I want to thank you. And through you, Türkiye, but also of course the US, Egypt, and Qatar, for the fact that the ceasefire is now taking place,” he said.
“I know that (Turkish) President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan and his team have been working very hard on this together with the US, Egypt, and Qatar. The fact that this is now happening is an enormous step — one that hopefully inspires us in Europe and with the US to do everything to also end the war in Ukraine,” he added.
Rutte also noted that NATO must tread carefully when addressing the war in Gaza, as members hold differing views on the issue.
“In NATO, there are various perspectives when it comes to the situation in the Middle East, particularly regarding Israel and Gaza,” he said.
“NATO’s focus is on the Euro-Atlantic area, so it’s a bit outside our territory. But of course, we are closely following developments, especially because of their impact on our mission in Iraq — where Türkiye plays a big role — helping Iraqis build their own security and defence forces,” Rutte said.
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