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 could be overcome swiftly, possibly in time for a summit of alliance leaders on the finish of next month.

At a information conference in Washington with visiting Finnish International Minister Pekka Haavisto, Blinken said the U.S. has no motive to imagine Turkey’s considerations can't be addressed. His feedback came after Turkey’s high diplomat said Finland and Sweden must take “concrete steps” before Ankara may support their membership.

“The US absolutely helps Finland and Sweden becoming a member of the alliance and I proceed to be confident that both will quickly be NATO members,” Blinken mentioned. “We stay up for being able to name Finland and Sweden our allies.”

Haavisto stated his country and Sweden had held “good negotiations” with the Turks over their concerns in recent days and stated these discussions would continue with a watch toward resolving them earlier than the NATO summit in Madrid on the finish of June.

“We agreed to proceed to those talks,” Haavisto mentioned. “We think that these issues will be solved that Turkey has been elevating. We hope that some results could possibly be achieved earlier than the NATO summit.”

Sweden and Finland submitted their written functions to affix NATO final week. The transfer represents one of the greatest geopolitical ramifications of Russia’s warfare in Ukraine and will rewrite Europe’s safety map.

The countries’ membership bids require assist from all 30 present NATO international locations, but Turkey, which instructions the second-largest army in the alliance, is objecting to them. It has cited alleged support for Kurdish militants whom Turkey considers terrorists and restrictions on weapons sales to Turkey.

Earlier Friday, Turkish International Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the Finnish and Swedish negotiating delegations had been given documents detailing Turkey’s concerns, like info on terror groups, throughout their visit to Turkey this week. He mentioned Ankara is awaiting specific answers.

Cavusoglu mentioned “an strategy of ‘we’ll convince Turkey in time anyway, we are friends and allies’ wouldn't be right.” He insisted that “these nations must take concrete steps.”

He added that “we perceive Finland and Sweden’s security considerations but ... everyone additionally wants to understand Turkey’s official security issues.”

Turkey this week listed 5 “concrete assurances” it was demanding from Sweden, including what it mentioned was “termination of political support 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 also known as for the lifting of arms sanctions in opposition to Turkey and global cooperation towards terrorism.

Cavusoglu’s comments got here at a information convention with the visiting foreign ministers of NATO allies Poland and Romania, both of whom expressed sturdy support for Finland and Sweden’s bids.

“There isn't any doubt that we do want the accession of Sweden and Finland to the NATO alliance in order to make it stronger,” Polish International Minister Zbigniew Rau mentioned.

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

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