NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg asked Turkey on Thursday to “now” ratify the organization’s membership of Finland and Sweden, whose candidatures for the Atlantic Alliance have been blocked by Ankara since May.
“It is high time to welcome Finland and Sweden as members of NATO” (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), Stoltenberg said at a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
NATO’s Secretary General, who is in Turkey this Thursday to visit the areas affected by last week’s earthquake, will also meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Stoltenberg’s call was made a day after the United States championed the same idea.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he hoped Sweden and Finland would join NATO when the Atlantic Alliance summit takes place in Vilnius between July 11 and 12.
The timing and form of accession will depend on the leaders of Turkey and Hungary, the two Alliance members that have not yet ratified the accession of Finland and Sweden, the US defense secretary said, admitting he knew that the leaders of those promote ratification.
Finland and Sweden “are ready to join [à NATO] now,” he assured.
“They are two very capable countries, who will add a lot of value to the Alliance once they join. We have trained with them in the past and they have invested heavily in modernization, so they will bring a lot to the table,” he explained.
Finland and Sweden, traditionally neutral countries, jointly applied for NATO membership after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
Hungary and Turkey are the only two Alliance members that have not yet ratified the membership of Stockholm and Helsinki, although Budapest is expected to agree soon.
Ankara has indicated on several occasions that it does not oppose Finland joining the Alliance, but has suspended negotiations with Sweden, accusing the country of allowing pro-Kurdish demonstrations and burning a copy of the Koran, the holy book of Muslims, on Swedish soil.
Turkey also criticized Sweden for not extraditing individuals accused of being members of Kurdish organizations identified as terrorist groups by Ankara.
Source: DN
