US: Turkey’s NATO points with Sweden, Finland will probably be mounted

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

At a information convention in Washington with visiting Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, Blinken stated the U.S. has no purpose to imagine Turkey’s concerns can't be addressed. His feedback came after Turkey’s prime diplomat said Finland and Sweden would have to take “concrete steps” earlier than Ankara might assist their membership.

“The USA totally supports Finland and Sweden joining the alliance and I continue to be confident that each will quickly be NATO members,” Blinken said. “We look ahead to having the ability to call Finland and Sweden our allies.”

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

“We agreed to continue to these talks,” Haavisto mentioned. “We think that these problems can be solved that Turkey has been elevating. We hope that some outcomes could possibly be achieved earlier than the NATO summit.”

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

The nations’ membership bids require support from all 30 present NATO countries, but Turkey, which commands the second-largest military 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 Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu mentioned the Finnish and Swedish negotiating delegations had been given documents detailing Turkey’s considerations, like data on terror teams, during their visit to Turkey this week. He said Ankara is awaiting specific solutions.

Cavusoglu mentioned “an method of ‘we’ll convince Turkey in time anyway, we're buddies and allies’ would not be right.” He insisted that “these countries must take concrete steps.”

He added that “we understand Finland and Sweden’s safety issues however ... everyone additionally needs to know Turkey’s legitimate security issues.”

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 supply of terrorism financing,” and the “cessation of arms support” to the banned PKK and a Syrian Kurdish militia group affiliated with it.

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

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

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

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

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