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 confident 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 on the end of next month.

At a news conference in Washington with visiting Finnish Overseas Minister Pekka Haavisto, Blinken said the U.S. has no cause to consider Turkey’s concerns cannot be addressed. His comments came after Turkey’s high diplomat said Finland and Sweden must take “concrete steps” before Ankara could help their membership.

“The USA absolutely supports Finland and Sweden becoming a member of the alliance and I continue to be assured that each will soon be NATO members,” Blinken mentioned. “We look ahead to being able to name Finland and Sweden our allies.”

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

“We agreed to continue to those talks,” Haavisto stated. “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 functions to affix NATO last week. The move represents one of the biggest geopolitical ramifications of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine and could rewrite Europe’s safety map.

The countries’ membership bids require support from all 30 present NATO countries, however Turkey, which commands the second-largest military in the alliance, is objecting to them. It has cited alleged help for Kurdish militants whom Turkey considers terrorists and restrictions on weapons sales to Turkey.

Earlier Friday, Turkish International Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the Finnish and Swedish negotiating delegations had been given paperwork detailing Turkey’s issues, like information on terror teams, throughout their go to to Turkey this week. He stated Ankara is awaiting specific solutions.

Cavusoglu mentioned “an method of ‘we’ll persuade Turkey in time anyway, we are friends and allies’ wouldn't be right.” He insisted that “these countries must take concrete steps.”

He added that “we understand Finland and Sweden’s security considerations but ... everybody also needs to grasp Turkey’s official safety considerations.”

Turkey this week listed five “concrete assurances” it was demanding from Sweden, including what it stated was “termination of political support for terrorism,” an “elimination of the source 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 known as for the lifting of arms sanctions against Turkey and global cooperation against terrorism.

Cavusoglu’s feedback came at a information convention with the visiting international ministers of NATO allies Poland and Romania, both of whom expressed robust assist 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 as a way to make it stronger,” Polish International Minister Zbigniew Rau mentioned.

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

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