“NATO’s door is still open,” Biden told Finland, Sweden as Turkey blocked negotiations | News
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson visited Washington to meet with US President Joe Biden on Thursday.
United States President Joe Biden has said that the United States strongly supports Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO, and describes both as “strong democracies.”
the President of Finland Sauli Niinistö and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson met Biden in the White House on Thursday to discuss the latest obstacles regarding their countries’ membership applications to the transatlantic military alliance.
The visit of the two leaders comes when the US authorities say that they are working to resolve Turkey’s decision to complicate Finland’s and Sweden’s accession negotiations.
Biden took up Turkey’s position, saying “NATO’s door remains open”, adding that “new members joining NATO are not a threat to any nation, they never have been.”
President Niinistö said that by supporting Finland and Sweden, the United States can be a “crucial example for others”.
“On February 24, I said that the masks have fallen and we only see the cold faces of the war. Russia’s war in Ukraine has changed Europe and our security environment,” Niinistö said at the press conference after the leadership meeting.
Finland and Sweden were due to open membership negotiations with the NATO board in Brussels on Thursday, but Finnish and Swedish delegates will have to wait until Turkey’s position on the applications is revoked.
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the two Nordic nations of “protecting terrorists”, referring to independent Kurdish militants in the countries, and has since drawn up a list of requirements to be met before Finland and Sweden’s alliance applications are processed.
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu added that both countries must provide security guarantees, where the list of requirements also draws attention to the US ban on arms sales.
Turkey had previously expressed its desire to acquire hundreds of F-35 fighter jets from the United States, but the White House blocked sales in 2018, citing Turkey’s acquisition of the S-400 missile defense system from Russia.
Commenting on Turkey’s objections to Finland and Sweden’s NATO applications, Niinistö said that “Finland has always had broad and good bilateral relations with Turkey. As NATO allies, we will commit ourselves to Turkey’s security just as Turkey will commit itself to ours. security.”
The President further added that Finland took terrorism seriously.
“We condemn terrorism in all its forms and we are actively involved in combating it. We are open to discussing any concerns,” he said.