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

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

At a news convention in Washington with visiting Finnish International Minister Pekka Haavisto, Blinken stated the U.S. has no reason to believe Turkey’s issues cannot be addressed. His comments got here after Turkey’s high diplomat mentioned Finland and Sweden must take “concrete steps” before Ankara could support their membership.

“The USA fully helps Finland and Sweden becoming a member of the alliance and I proceed to be confident that both will soon be NATO members,” Blinken mentioned. “We look forward to having the ability to call Finland and Sweden our allies.”

Haavisto stated his nation and Sweden had held “good negotiations” with the Turks over their issues in latest days and stated those discussions would proceed with an eye towards resolving them before the NATO summit in Madrid on the finish of June.

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

Sweden and Finland submitted their written applications to join NATO last week. The move represents one of many greatest geopolitical ramifications of Russia’s warfare in Ukraine and will rewrite Europe’s safety map.

The nations’ membership bids require help from all 30 current NATO nations, but Turkey, which instructions the second-largest army 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 teams, during their visit to Turkey this week. He stated Ankara is awaiting particular answers.

Cavusoglu stated “an strategy of ‘we’ll persuade Turkey in time anyway, we're associates 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 safety considerations however ... everybody additionally needs to know Turkey’s legit security concerns.”

Turkey this week listed five “concrete assurances” it was demanding from Sweden, including 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 calls for also known as for the lifting of arms sanctions in opposition to Turkey and world cooperation against terrorism.

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

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

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

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