NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg asked Turkey on Thursday to ratify “now” the membership of Finland and Sweden to the organization, whose candidacies to the Atlantic Alliance have been blocked since May by Ankara.
“It is time to welcome Finland and Sweden as members of NATO” (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), Stoltenberg said during a joint press conference with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
The NATO Secretary General, who is in Turkey this Thursday to visit the areas affected by last week’s earthquake, will also meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The appeal launched by Stoltenberg was made a day after the United States defended the same idea.
On Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he expected Sweden and Finland to become NATO members when the Atlantic Alliance summit is held in Vilnius on July 11-12.
The timing and manner of accession will depend on the leaders of Turkey and Hungary, the two Alliance members that have yet to ratify Finland’s and Sweden’s membership, the US defense secretary said, admitting he knew the leaders of those countries are promoting ratification.
Finland and Sweden “are ready to join [à NATO] now,” he said.
“These are two highly capable countries, who will bring a lot of value to the Alliance once they come together. We have trained with them in the past and they have invested heavily in the modernization, so they will bring a lot to the table,” he explained.
Finland and Sweden, traditionally neutral countries, applied together last year for NATO membership after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Hungary and Turkey are the only two members of the Alliance that have yet to ratify the membership of Stockholm and Helsinki, although Budapest is expected to give its consent soon.
Ankara has indicated on several occasions that it is not opposed to Finland’s entry into the Alliance, but has suspended negotiations with Sweden, accusing the country of allowing pro-Kurdish demonstrations and burning a copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book. , Swedish soil.
Turkey also criticized Sweden for not extraditing people accused of belonging to Kurdish organizations declared by Ankara to be terrorist groups.
Source: TSF
