NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg suggested on Thursday that Turkey lift reservations about Finland and Sweden’s efforts to join the military alliance, insisting that Nordic neighbors have done enough to satisfy Ankara’s membership considerations.
Finland and Sweden were part of the world’s largest security alliance in the months after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February. In doing so, they abandoned long-standing policies of military non-alignment for Russian President Vladimir Putin to attack.
But Turkey, which joined NATO in 1952, is still not in a position to back them after months of trilateral talks. suspected of orchestrating a failed coup in Turkey in 2016.
“Finland and Sweden have remained committed to Turkey. They have strong partners in our not unusual fight against terrorism in all its bureaucracy and demonstrations,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Istanbul after talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
“It is time to welcome Finland and Sweden as full members of NATO. His club will make our partnership stronger and our people safer,” Stoltenberg said. “In those damaging times, it is even more vital to end your club, any false impressions or miscalculations in Moscow. “
However, Cavusoglu said the timing of their acceptance as new members would depend on whether Turkey’s demands, agreed in a joint memorandum, were met. Offers from Finland.
“These two countries want to take vital steps to combat terrorism because one of the biggest threats facing NATO is terrorism,” the Turkish minister said.
“It is not imaginable to say at this time that the two countries have fully implemented all facets of the memorandum,” he added, while stressing that Turkey supports NATO expansion.
Cavusoglu said Turkey sees the new Swedish government as “more determined” to comply with the memorandum signed in Madrid. Sweden’s new prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, is due to travel to Ankara on Nov. 8, he said.
Turkey has also called for the lifting of the arms embargo imposed following its 2019 incursion into northern Syria to combat Kurdish militants. Sweden announced last month that it would lift the embargo, a move noted as Ankara’s approval.
Cavusoglu said Sweden replaced its legislation and welcomed the lifting of the arms embargo as “a vital step. “But he warned that the adjustments will have to be permanent and that Sweden will not have to back down once it becomes a member of NATO.
But Stoltenberg, in the most forceful public aid he has made to the plaintiffs on Turkish soil, stated categorically that they had already done enough.
“I recognize your concerns. At the same time, it is transparent that Finland and Sweden have a reputable memorandum and are committed to a long-term partnership with Turkey,” the former Norwegian prime minister told Cavusoglu.
Cavusoglu also that Turkey has no primary problems with Finland, however, because the Nordic countries need their accession procedure to take positions in tandem, get “equal treatment” from Ankara.
All 30 NATO member countries will have to officially ratify the accession protocol of Finland and Sweden to join the alliance. Only the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments have yet to do so.
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Cook reported from Brussels.
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