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

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

At a information conference in Washington with visiting Finnish Overseas Minister Pekka Haavisto, Blinken mentioned the U.S. has no purpose to believe Turkey’s concerns can't be addressed. His feedback came after Turkey’s top diplomat stated Finland and Sweden must take “concrete steps” earlier than Ankara may assist their membership.

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

Haavisto said his country and Sweden had held “good negotiations” with the Turks over their concerns in latest days and stated these discussions would proceed with an eye fixed toward resolving them earlier than the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June.

“We agreed to proceed to these talks,” Haavisto stated. “We expect that these problems could be solved that Turkey has been raising. 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 the largest geopolitical ramifications of Russia’s war in Ukraine and will rewrite Europe’s security map.

The nations’ membership bids require help from all 30 current NATO nations, but 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 gross sales to Turkey.

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

Cavusoglu said “an approach of ‘we’ll persuade Turkey in time anyway, we're mates and allies’ wouldn't be correct.” He insisted that “these international locations have to take concrete steps.”

He added that “we understand Finland and Sweden’s security issues however ... everybody also wants to grasp Turkey’s reputable security concerns.”

Turkey this week listed 5 “concrete assurances” it was demanding from Sweden, together with what it mentioned was “termination of political assist for terrorism,” an “elimination of the supply 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 called for the lifting of arms sanctions against Turkey and world cooperation in opposition to terrorism.

Cavusoglu’s feedback got here at a news conference with the visiting overseas ministers of NATO allies Poland and Romania, each of whom expressed sturdy assist for Finland and Sweden’s bids.

“There is no such thing as a doubt that we do want the accession of Sweden and Finland to the NATO alliance in an effort to make it stronger,” Polish International Minister Zbigniew Rau said.

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

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