US: Turkey’s NATO issues with Sweden, Finland shall be fixed

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated Friday he’s assured Turkey’s objections to Finland and Sweden joining NATO may be overcome swiftly, probably in time for a summit of alliance leaders on the finish of subsequent month.

At a news conference in Washington with visiting Finnish International Minister Pekka Haavisto, Blinken stated the U.S. has no cause to imagine Turkey’s issues cannot be addressed. His comments got here after Turkey’s top diplomat said Finland and Sweden must take “concrete steps” earlier than Ankara might assist their membership.

“The US totally helps Finland and Sweden joining the alliance and I proceed to be assured that each will soon be NATO members,” Blinken stated. “We look ahead to with the ability to call Finland and Sweden our allies.”

Haavisto stated his country and Sweden had held “good negotiations” with the Turks over their considerations in latest days and stated those discussions would proceed with an eye towards resolving them earlier than the NATO summit in Madrid on the finish of June.

“We agreed to continue to these talks,” Haavisto mentioned. “We expect that these problems will be solved that Turkey has been elevating. We hope that some outcomes may very well be achieved earlier than the NATO summit.”

Sweden and Finland submitted their written applications to join NATO final week. The move represents one of many largest geopolitical ramifications of Russia’s struggle in Ukraine and will rewrite Europe’s security map.

The nations’ membership bids require assist from all 30 current NATO nations, however Turkey, which instructions the second-largest army within the alliance, is objecting to them. It has cited alleged help for Kurdish militants whom Turkey considers terrorists and restrictions on weapons sales to Turkey.

Earlier Friday, Turkish Overseas Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stated the Finnish and Swedish negotiating delegations had been given paperwork detailing Turkey’s concerns, like info on terror groups, during their visit to Turkey this week. He said Ankara is awaiting particular answers.

Cavusoglu mentioned “an approach of ‘we’ll convince Turkey in time anyway, we are friends and allies’ would not be appropriate.” He insisted that “these international locations must take concrete steps.”

He added that “we understand Finland and Sweden’s safety considerations however ... everybody also needs to understand Turkey’s authentic safety concerns.”

Turkey this week listed 5 “concrete assurances” it was demanding from Sweden, including what it stated was “termination of political help for terrorism,” an “elimination of the source of terrorism financing,” and the “cessation of arms help” to the banned PKK and a Syrian Kurdish militia group affiliated with it.

The calls for additionally called for the lifting of arms sanctions in opposition to Turkey and global cooperation towards terrorism.

Cavusoglu’s comments came at a news conference with the visiting overseas ministers of NATO allies Poland and Romania, each of whom expressed robust help for Finland and Sweden’s bids.

“There isn't a doubt that we do need the accession of Sweden and Finland to the NATO alliance in an effort to make it stronger,” Polish Overseas Minister Zbigniew Rau said.

Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu, agreed, saying their membership would “consolidate the collective defense and our safety.”

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