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

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned 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 at the end of next month.

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

“The US absolutely helps Finland and Sweden becoming a member of the alliance and I proceed to be confident that each will quickly 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 recent days and said these discussions would proceed with an eye fixed towards resolving them earlier than the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June.

“We agreed to proceed to these talks,” Haavisto mentioned. “We predict that these problems could be solved that Turkey has been raising. We hope that some results might be achieved before the NATO summit.”

Sweden and Finland submitted their written applications to affix NATO last week. The move represents one of the greatest geopolitical ramifications of Russia’s warfare in Ukraine and could rewrite Europe’s security map.

The countries’ membership bids require help from all 30 present NATO nations, 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 issues, like data on terror groups, throughout their visit to Turkey this week. He mentioned Ankara is awaiting specific answers.

Cavusoglu mentioned “an method of ‘we’ll persuade Turkey in time anyway, we're pals and allies’ wouldn't be correct.” He insisted that “these international locations must take concrete steps.”

He added that “we understand Finland and Sweden’s security issues but ... everybody additionally wants to grasp Turkey’s legitimate safety issues.”

Turkey this week listed five “concrete assurances” it was demanding from Sweden, together with what it said 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 demands additionally referred to as for the lifting of arms sanctions against Turkey and international cooperation in opposition to terrorism.

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

“There is no doubt that we do want the accession of Sweden and Finland to the NATO alliance as a way to make it stronger,” Polish Overseas Minister Zbigniew Rau mentioned.

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

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