Sweden, Finland must follow the memorandum to become part of NATO
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that if the Nordic nations did not stand up, Ankara would not accept them into the alliance.
Sweden and Finland must follow a memorandum recently signed with Turkey to become part of NATO, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said.
“If they do not follow it, we will not accept them in NATO,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a live interview with Turkish television broadcaster NTV on Monday.
Sweden and Finland avoided neutrality and applied to join NATO in May, a decision spurred on by Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
But Türkiye, a longtime member of the alliance, objected to the membership offerings and criticized the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.
Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed the agreement after trilateral talks that took place ahead of the NATO summit in Madrid last week.
The agreement allows the two Nordic countries to become members of NATO, but conditions them to take action against Turkey’s terrorism concerns and lift an arms embargo on Ankara.
Following the trilateral agreement, NATO formally invited Sweden and Finland to join the 30-member military alliance.
READ MORE: Erdogan: Time to see the implementation of commitments from Finland, Sweden
Band with USA, Israel
In his interview, Cavusoglu also addressed the ties between Turkey and the United States.
Relations are “relatively positive” and negotiations for the purchase of the new F-16 have been successful, he said.
The Foreign Minister added that if threats arise against Türkiye in Syria, the country will take matters into its own hands.
Cavusoglu also praised the normalization process between Ankara and Tel Aviv and said that the change of government in Israel will not affect the improved relations.
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Source: TRTWorld and agencies