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

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 could be overcome swiftly, possibly in time for a summit of alliance leaders on the finish of next month.

At a information convention in Washington with visiting Finnish Overseas Minister Pekka Haavisto, Blinken said the U.S. has no reason to believe Turkey’s issues cannot be addressed. His feedback came after Turkey’s high diplomat stated Finland and Sweden must take “concrete steps” before Ankara could assist their membership.

“The USA fully helps Finland and Sweden joining the alliance and I continue to be assured that both will soon be NATO members,” Blinken said. “We sit up for being able to name Finland and Sweden our allies.”

Haavisto stated his country and Sweden had held “good negotiations” with the Turks over their concerns in recent days and mentioned those discussions would continue with an eye fixed towards resolving them before the NATO summit in Madrid on the finish of June.

“We agreed to proceed to these talks,” Haavisto stated. “We expect that these problems will be solved that Turkey has been elevating. We hope that some results could be achieved before the NATO summit.”

Sweden and Finland submitted their written purposes to affix NATO final week. The move represents one of many largest geopolitical ramifications of Russia’s struggle 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 within the alliance, is objecting to them. It has cited alleged support for Kurdish militants whom Turkey considers terrorists and restrictions on weapons gross sales to Turkey.

Earlier Friday, Turkish Overseas Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu mentioned the Finnish and Swedish negotiating delegations had been given documents detailing Turkey’s considerations, like data on terror teams, throughout their visit to Turkey this week. He mentioned Ankara is awaiting particular answers.

Cavusoglu mentioned “an strategy of ‘we’ll persuade Turkey in time anyway, we're buddies and allies’ would not be correct.” He insisted that “these international locations need to take concrete steps.”

He added that “we perceive Finland and Sweden’s safety concerns but ... everyone 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 mentioned 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 demands additionally known as for the lifting of arms sanctions towards Turkey and international cooperation in opposition to terrorism.

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

“There is no doubt that we do need the accession of Sweden and Finland to the NATO alliance with the intention to make it stronger,” Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau mentioned.

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

___

Observe the AP’s coverage of the conflict at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine