Turkey acknowledges “progress” from Sweden and Finland
Turkey acknowledges “progress” from Sweden and Finland
Istanbul noted that there had been “progress” on the part of Sweden and Finland in the membership program for the two northern European countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Turkey said Sweden and Finland had made “progress” towards the Nordic countries joining NATO, according to a joint statement after Friday’s meeting in Stockholm. In a press release, the three signatories on the sidelines of the summit in Madrid in June welcomed “the intensity of cooperation (…) and the progress made by Finland and Sweden in respecting the memorandum”.
“Sweden mostly respects the tripartite memorandum and moves towards NATO,” tweeted Sweden’s head of membership negotiations, Oskar Stenström, after a meeting announced by the Turkish president earlier this month. Tayyip Erdoğan. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden submitted a joint bid to join the transatlantic alliance in May, abandoning decades of military non-alignment.
It requires unanimous approval by NATO’s 30 member states and has been ratified by all but Turkey and Hungary. Ankara specifically accused the two countries, primarily Sweden, of acting as a haven for militants close to the PKK but also for the People’s Protection Units (YPG) operating in Syria.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson, who visited Ankara in early November, promised to respond to the concerns expressed by Turkey in its fight against terrorism. In mid-November, Sweden’s Riksdag adopted a constitutional amendment that allows Sweden to tighten the fight against terrorism, which comes into effect in January.
AFP
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