Macron pleased with Turkey’s support for Finland, Sweden’s accession to NATO
PARIS
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that he was pleased with Turkey’s decision to support Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO.
Speaking at a news conference at the end of the three-day NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, Macron began by thanking his host country but moving quickly to address the growing threats and the need for stronger unity among member states.
“We have had the opportunity this morning to discuss the threats and challenges we all face and the need to respect the security interests of each of the Allies in the strategic decisions we make,” he said.
“We have sometimes had sincere discussions in the past, especially with Türkiye on these issues. We are pursuing them because an alliance has been created for this and because I am committed to cohesion.”
In May, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had accused Finland and Sweden of sympathizing with Kurdish rebels and said he would block the two countries’ accession to NATO.
Erdogan has said that the two nations have become havens for the rebels.
“These countries have almost become boarding houses for terrorist organizations,” he was quoted as saying by The New York Times. “It’s not possible for us to be for.”
On Wednesday in Madrid, however, Erdogan had set aside his objections and said in a statement that his country had reached an agreement with Finland and Sweden on NATO membership, according to reports from euronews. The deal came after three hours of talks on Tuesday at the summit.
Erdogan said he had received “full cooperation” from Finland and Sweden against Kurdish PKK fighters and their allies.
The two Nordic countries had not yet become members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which maintained its long-standing neutrality. But ahead of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, both governments saw fit to move their membership requests quickly.
NATO countries at the summit formally invited Finland and Sweden to join the alliance after the agreement to end the opposition with Turkey was reached. However, their accession must be approved by all 30 NATO member states.
Türkiye has been a member of NATO since 1952 and joined at that time to join the west of the then Soviet Union. Recently, however, Erdogan has been on friendly terms with Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite Turkey’s recent blockade of Russian ships in the Black Sea on its way to Ukraine.
In addition, Turkey’s crucial position in the region as the gateway to Europe on the one hand and the Middle East on the other and the state with the second largest army in NATO means that their membership and role in the alliance is key.
Concrete steps were also outlined at the summit to lead Europe towards a stronger world order, which will now include its neighbors to the north.
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