Sweden, Finnish Delegations in Turkey for NATO talks – The Durango Herald
Delegations from Sweden and Finland are scheduled to hold talks with senior Turkish officials in an attempt to overcome Turkey’s objections to their historic applications to join the NATO alliance.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Delegations from Sweden and Finland were to hold talks in Ankara on Wednesday with senior Turkish officials in an attempt to overcome Turkey’s objections to their historic applications to join the NATO alliance.
Sweden and Finland submitted their written applications to join NATO last week in a move that marks one of the biggest geopolitical consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine – and which could write about Europe’s security map.
Turkey has said it opposes the two Nordic countries ‘membership of the military alliance, citing complaints about Sweden’s – and to a lesser extent Finland’s – perceived support for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and other entities that Turkey sees as a security threat. It also accuses the two of imposing arms export restrictions on Turkey and refusing to extradite suspected “terrorists”.
Turkey’s objections have dampened Stockholm and Helsinki’s hopes for their swift NATO membership in the midst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and are jeopardizing the credibility of the transatlantic alliance. All 30 NATO members must agree to bring in new members.
The Swedish and Finnish delegations are ready to address Turkey’s complaints with Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal. The Swedish delegation would be led by State Secretary Oscar Stenström, while Jukka Salovaara, the Foreign Minister’s Deputy Secretary, would lead the Finnish delegation, Turkish officials have said.
Listed as a terrorist organization by several of Turkey’s allies, the PKK has carried out a decades-long uprising against Turkey, a conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives.
This week, Turkey listed five “concrete assurances” it requires from Sweden, including what they said were “cessation of political support for terrorism”, an “elimination of the source of terrorist financing” and “cessation of arms support” to Turkey. banned the PKK and a Syrian Kurdish militia group affiliated with it. The demands also called for the lifting of arms sanctions against Turkey and global cooperation against terrorism.
Turkey said it had requested the extradition of Kurdish militants and other suspects since 2017, but had not received a positive response from Stockholm. Ankara claimed, among other things, that Sweden had decided to provide $ 376 million to support the Kurdish militants in 2023 and that military equipment had been provided to them, including anti-tank weapons and drones.
Sweden has denied that it has provided any “financial support or military support” to Kurdish groups or units in Syria.
– Sweden is a major humanitarian donor to the Syrian crisis through global grants to humanitarian actors, says Foreign Minister Ann Linde to the newspaper Aftonbladet.
“Cooperation in northeastern Syria is carried out primarily through the United Nations and international organizations,” she said. “Sweden does not provide targeted support to Syrian Kurds or to the political or military structures in northeastern Syria, but the people in these areas are naturally participating in these aid projects.”
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FIL – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, center, attends a media conference with Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, left, and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde, right, at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Monday 24 January 2022. (AP Photo / Olivier Matthys, file)
FIL – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg presents documents when Sweden and Finland applied for membership in Brussels, Belgium, on May 18, 2022. Delegations from Sweden and Finland were expected to Ankara, Turkey, for talks with Turkish officials on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, for to try to overcome Turkey’s objections to their NATO bid. (Johanna Geron, Pool via AP, file)
FIL – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, right, greets Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he arrives at a NATO summit at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Monday, June 14, 2021. (Kenzo Tribouillard, Pool via AP, Archive)