for-phone-onlyfor-tablet-portrait-upfor-tablet-landscape-upfor-desktop-upfor-wide-desktop-up

Turkey agrees to back NATO plans for Baltic: Lithuania

Turkey's President President Tayyip Erdogan attends the NATO leaders summit in Watford, Britain December 4, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville

VILNIUS (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to back NATO’s defense plans for Poland and the Baltic states, Lithuania’s president said on Wednesday.

“This is a huge achievement not only for our country, but for the whole region, because it ensures security of our citizens,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said in a statement.

Turkey had previously said it would oppose NATO’s plan unless the alliance accepted Turkey’s designation of certain groups as terrorists, including the Kurdish YPG militia.

Reporting by Andrius Sytas; Editing by Jon Boyle

for-phone-onlyfor-tablet-portrait-upfor-tablet-landscape-upfor-desktop-upfor-wide-desktop-up