ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has told its NATO allies that Ankara will back the Netherlands’ outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s candidacy for the military alliance’s secretary general position, a senior Turkish official said Monday.
The official said Turkey notified NATO allies' diplomats in Brussels on Monday. The decision comes three days after Rutte traveled to Turkey to seek support from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his bid. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with Turkish government protocol.
Incumbent NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister who has been NATO’s top civilian official since 2014, is nearing the end of his term. His mandate had been extended several times as the alliance sought to keep a steady hand at the helm after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
NATO members Turkey and Hungary had earlier expressed reservations about Rutte’s candidacy, and Erdogan made no commitments during a joint news conference with Rutte on Friday.
NATO officials and envoys want the nomination for Stoltenberg’s successor wrapped up by the end of April, before competition for top European Union jobs begins in earnest around the June 6-9 elections.
They are keen to avoid having the potentially divisive issue mar the alliance’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington in July.
NATO secretaries-general are responsible for chairing meetings and guiding sometimes delicate consultations among member countries to ensure that an organization that operates on consensus can continue to function. They also ensure that decisions are put into action and speak on behalf of all members.
FILE -Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte shake hands at the end of joint news conference, in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Turkey has told its NATO allies that Ankara will back the Netherlands’ outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s candidacy for the military alliance’s secretary general position, a senior Turkish official said Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File)
Asian soccer leaders can have unlimited years in power after their governing body voted to scrap a key pillar of reforms passed after the corruption crisis that rocked FIFA in 2015.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar were among four of the 47 Asian Football Confederation members who put the proposal to their annual congress in Bangkok on Thursday. Only Australia and Jordan voted “No.”
The vote win lets AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa seek re-election in 2027 when he had been due to step down after 14 years in office.
Ahead of the vote, the Bahraini royal family member told members of the AFC’s wish to be “a model confederation” in world soccer aligned with FIFA.
Presidential term limits have been pushed in two waves of governance reforms at FIFA in response to bribery and corruption scandals in 2011 and 2015 — Asian soccer was linked to both.
In 2011, then AFC leader Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar was barred from the FIFA presidential election after Caribbean voters were paid $40,000 cash in brown envelopes after a campaign meeting in Trinidad.
In fallout from the 2015 scandal two years later, senior AFC official Richard Lai of Guam pleaded guilty in a federal court in Brooklyn to being part of a bribe-paying scheme that built influence in international soccer. Lai said it was run by a Kuwaiti faction which helped Sheikh Salman win election to succeed Bin Hammam in 2013.
Removing presidents after no more than 12 years were then seen as essential to curb networks of patronage and loyalty that can enable corruption and poor governance.
However, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been allowed by a subsequent statutes amendment he oversaw to stay in office for 15 years until 2031, and UEFA voted in February to ensure its president Aleksander Čeferin can seek to stay beyond his 11th year in 2027. Čeferin later said he will not stand for re-election.
Even the International Olympic Committee is still weighing a members' request last October to change legal rules to let their president, Thomas Bach, seek a third election next year. That would go beyond the 12-year limit set after the Salt Lake City bidding corruption scandal 25 years ago.
The AFC has trumped both FIFA and UEFA in removing all barriers to its president and executive committee members staying in place.
It was, the AFC said in a later statement, “another clear signal of our intent to ensure that we remain a model confederation that continues to uphold the highest ethical standards and best governance practices for the future generations of our great game.”
One legal barrier still remains for Sheikh Salman at FIFA. Its statutes currently block him from continuing beyond 2031 as a FIFA vice president and member of its ruling council.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - FIFA presidential candidate Sheik Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain attends an extraordinary FIFA congress in Zurich, Switzerland Feb. 26, 2016. Asian soccer leaders can now have unlimited years in power. The Asian Football Confederation governing body has voted to scrap 12-year term limits for senior elected officials that are key pillar of reforms passed after the corruption crisis that rocked FIFA in 2015. The vote win lets AFC president Sheikh Salman of Bahrain seek re-election in 2027 when he had been due to step down after 14 years in office. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)
