July 11th, 2023

*) Türkiye agrees to move ahead with Sweden's NATO bid: Stoltenberg Türkiye has agreed to forward to parliament Sweden's bid to join the NATO military alliance, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said on the eve of a NATO summit in Vilnius. Türkiye's approval came after Stockholm agreed to establish a bilateral security mechanism with Ankara, Stoltenberg said. Sweden will also support Türkiye's EU process, visa liberalisation and efforts to update Customs Union, he added. He said NATO was establishing, for the first time, the post of Special Counter-Terrorism Coordinator. Sweden reiterated it will not support terrorist organisations YPG/PYD and FETO, a joint statement said after the meeting between Türkiye, Sweden, and the NATO chief. *) Key aid route to Syria closes as UN fails to extend authorisation A UN-brokered agreement that allows for the delivery of aid overland from Türkiye into Syria has expired after the United Nations Security Council failed to hold a vote to reauthorise it. The 15 members of the council had been trying for days to find a compromise to extend the deal, which since 2014 has allowed for food, water and medicine to be trucked to northwestern Syria. But the vote, first scheduled for Friday, was postponed to Monday - and then again to Tuesday morning, a source in the British mission to the UN, which holds the presidency of the Security Council, said. This means that as humanitarian convoys wrapped up their operations on Monday night, the future of the aid corridor was in doubt - it cannot resume operations until the United Nations reauthorises it. *) Turkish President, EU Council chief agree to 're-energise' ties Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has met Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, in Vilnius, Lithuania as he was visiting to attend a NATO leaders’ summit. Michel on Twitter said they “explored opportunities ahead to bring EU-Türkiye cooperation back to the forefront & re-energise our relations." He added that the Council has asked the high re