Washington: Turkey’s worries about Finland and Sweden joining NATO can be addressed
According to IRNA from Reuters; “We are confident that Finland and Sweden will be able to address Turkey’s concerns directly,” Hicks said alongside his Norwegian counterpart in Oslo.
This month (May), Ankara, unlike other NATO allies, opposed the two countries joining the military alliance.
Turkey accuses Sweden and Finland of harboring elements affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group and Abdullah Gulen’s followers, who Ankara claims organized the 2016 coup attempt.
The parliaments of all 30 NATO members must approve the new member joining the alliance to take advantage of the group security guarantee.
The leaders of Turkey, Sweden and Finland met on Saturday to discuss Ankara’s concerns.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday night: “The new Turkey will never back down from its principles and we will not accept any country joining NATO until they meet our conditions.” We deal with the issue of NATO development from a point of view; We do not encounter hostility and blind prejudice.
He added: “We will never accept the policy of countries that support terrorist groups and at the same time want to join NATO.”
Erdogan had said a few days ago that unless Sweden and Finland show solidarity with Turkey against terrorism, Ankara will never take a positive stance on the two countries’ membership. NATO expansion is meaningful to us when our sensitivities are respected. While we are asked to support the membership of these countries in NATO, they support the terrorist organizations of P. ک. alley. گ. B support, which 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.
Erdogan’s remarks come as US President Joe Biden welcomed Sweden and Finland’s bid to join NATO and vowed to work with them to counter the threat.
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said that Finland and Sweden’s membership in the military alliance had strengthened NATO’s cooperation with the European Union.