President Joe Biden met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the NATO summit in Madrid Wednesday, where he thanked Erdoğan for dropping his objections to Finland and Sweden becoming NATO members.
“I want to particularly thank you for what you did putting together the situation with regard to Finland and Sweden and all the incredible work you’re doing to try to get the grain out of Ukraine and Russia,” Biden said.
“We think your pioneering in this regard is going to be crucial in terms of strengthening NATO for the future,” Erdoğan said. “And it’s going to have a very positive contribution to the process between Ukraine and Russia.”
Senior administration officials told reporters Wednesday that the U.S. made no formal offer in exchange for Erdoğan dropping Turkey’s resistance to Finland and Sweden becoming NATO members.
The U.S. Department of Defense earlier came out in support of Turkey’s plans to modernize its aircraft fleet with American-made F-16s.
-ABC News’ Gabe Ferris
