US: Turkey’s NATO points 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 becoming a member of NATO can be overcome swiftly, possibly in time for a summit of alliance leaders at the end of next month.

At a news convention in Washington with visiting Finnish Overseas Minister Pekka Haavisto, Blinken mentioned the U.S. has no reason to consider Turkey’s issues cannot be addressed. His comments came after Turkey’s high diplomat said Finland and Sweden would have to take “concrete steps” earlier than Ankara may assist their membership.

“The USA absolutely helps Finland and Sweden becoming a member of the alliance and I continue to be confident that both will quickly be NATO members,” Blinken stated. “We look forward to with the ability to name Finland and Sweden our allies.”

Haavisto mentioned his country and Sweden had held “good negotiations” with the Turks over their concerns in latest days and said those discussions would proceed with a watch toward resolving them before the NATO summit in Madrid on the end of June.

“We agreed to proceed to these talks,” Haavisto stated. “We think that these issues might be solved that Turkey has been raising. We hope that some outcomes could be achieved before the NATO summit.”

Sweden and Finland submitted their written applications to affix NATO final week. The transfer represents one of many greatest geopolitical ramifications of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine and will rewrite Europe’s security map.

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

Earlier Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu mentioned the Finnish and Swedish negotiating delegations had been given documents detailing Turkey’s considerations, like information on terror groups, throughout their visit to Turkey this week. He said Ankara is awaiting particular solutions.

Cavusoglu mentioned “an strategy of ‘we’ll convince Turkey in time anyway, we are friends and allies’ would not be correct.” He insisted that “these countries need to take concrete steps.”

He added that “we perceive Finland and Sweden’s safety concerns but ... everyone also needs to understand Turkey’s legit safety concerns.”

Turkey this week listed five “concrete assurances” it was demanding from Sweden, together with what it mentioned 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 demands also known as for the lifting of arms sanctions towards Turkey and world cooperation against terrorism.

Cavusoglu’s feedback came at a information conference with the visiting international ministers of NATO allies Poland and Romania, both of whom expressed robust help for Finland and Sweden’s bids.

“There is no such thing as a doubt that we do need the accession of Sweden and Finland to the NATO alliance with a purpose to make it stronger,” Polish Foreign 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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