Turkey: US to Convey Ankara Concerns Over Finland, Sweden’s NATO Membership
IRNA quoted Cavusoglu as saying in a news conference with Turkish media in New York on Thursday morning that IRNA had told his US counterpart that Washington needed to balance its policies towards Greece and Turkey.
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told members of parliament that Ankara expects NATO member states to understand and respect Ankara’s security issues regarding Finland and Sweden’s requests to join the coalition.
According to IRNA, the Turkish president continued: “NATO expansion is meaningful for us when our sensitivities are respected.” While we are asked to support the membership of these countries in NATO, on the other hand, they provide any support to the terrorist organizations “P. ک. alley. گ. B) and this means contradiction.
“You are not handing over members of terrorist groups to us, and you are asking us to support your membership in NATO,” Erdogan said, referring indirectly to Finland and Sweden.
“We can not say yes to depriving NATO of security,” he said.
In order to accept a new member in this military coalition, it is necessary to reach a consensus among all members; Thus, in theory, Turkey is able to prevent the accession of Sweden and Finland.
Sweden and Finland formally applied for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on May 28 at the headquarters of the military organization in Brussels, Belgium, Reuters reported, quoting diplomats.
According to Reuters, despite the fact that the process of membership of the two northern European countries took only two or three weeks, the process of approval of the parliaments of 30 member states is expected to take up to a year.
Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday called Finland and Sweden’s membership applications historic, calling the two countries the bloc’s closest partners, whose membership would increase NATO’s joint security.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson said yesterday (May 27) at a joint press conference with the President of Finland in Stockholm: “The two countries will jointly submit their application tomorrow at NATO Headquarters in Brussels.”
The Swedish Prime Minister added: “I am glad that we have taken the same path and we can do it together.
Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Russia would take action to counter the threat of Sweden’s membership in the alliance, given the conditions of Sweden’s membership in NATO.
“Sweden’s accession to NATO will seriously damage the security of northern Europe and the continent in general,” the statement said, according to IRNA. Russia will take action against threats to its national security in terms of technical, military and other issues.
Russia’s actions depend on Sweden’s conditions for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), including the possible deployment of NATO offensive weapons on Swedish soil, the statement said.