Biden And Erdogan Hold Talks Following NATO Summit

US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Erdogan have completed a bilateral meeting following the second session of the NATO summit in Madrid.

• The meeting included US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and lasted 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Biden said to Erdogan: "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. I mean, you're doing a great job."
• Erdogan: "I hope and pray that we will be able to establish a balance to diplomacy in order to cultivate positive results, especially with regards to the grain."
• One of the key stories today was Turkey's acquiescence to the NATO bids of Sweden and Finland. Finnish President Sauli Niinistö told reporters earlier than he had not granted concessions to Erdogan in order to facilitate dropping the veto.
• Terri Schultz of NPR: ""Finnish President Sauli Niinistö says nothing changed" in Finland's policies/approach to Turkey's requests yesterday in order to secure Ankara's.This includes extraditions & classification of the YPG/FETO."
• The New York Times suggested this morning that concessions on a new F-16 fleet may have helped push the deal through: "Senior American officials had said just hours earlier that President Biden did not bargain with Turkey in exchange for its support for expanding NATO...[but later said] “The U.S. Department of Defense fully supports Turkey’s modernization plans for its F-16 fleet.”