Turkey: Incorporate counter-terrorism into NATO’s strategic concept

According to Fars News Agency’s International Group, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoغlu said on Friday that the fight against terrorism should be part of NATO’s strategic concept.

According to the news agency «Anatoly“Sweden and Finland, which want to join NATO, must end their support for terrorism,” Cavusoglu said at a joint meeting with his Romanian and Polish counterparts.

The Turkish Foreign Minister reiterated that his country’s condition for not opposing the two countries’ membership in NATO is that they lift their sanctions against Turkey’s defense industry.

“Turkey’s position on the two countries’ accession to NATO is clear and unambiguous,” he said. “The size of NATO members should also encourage Finland and Sweden to take steps to address Ankara’s concerns.”

“Solidarity with NATO is important for all of us,” Cavusoglu added. “We understand the security concerns of Sweden and Finland, and others need to understand Turkey’s legitimate security concerns.”

That’s why Ankara wants the fight against terrorism to be clearly included in NATO ‘s strategic concept, the senior Turkish diplomat said.

“A decisive step must be taken on Turkey’s concerns,” he said. “They must stop supporting terrorism.”

The Romanian and Polish counterparts of Cavusoglu also stressed the need for Finland and Sweden to join NATO quickly and expressed hope that Turkey would address their concerns.

The governments of Finland and Sweden announced last week their decision to join NATO, which has opened a new front in the confrontation between Russia and the West. As one of the Scandinavian countries, Finland has a thousand kilometers of border with Russia and is the first country to share a border with Russia that joins NATO.

The Turkish government on Tuesday released an official list of five requests from Sweden and Finland, which will support the two Nordic countries in NATO if these requests are met.

Ankara has demanded “tangible guarantees” from Stockholm to cut all ties with groups such as the PKK, which has been declared a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

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