Ankara has agreed not to block the applications of Finland and Sweden to join the North Atlantic Alliance, CNN reports quoting Finnish President Sauli Niinistö. According to the channel, the three countries signed a memorandum of understanding that incorporated Turkey’s questions to both candidates for accession.
One of the main obstacles on the way of Finland and Sweden to NATO has been eliminated: Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said on Tuesday that Turkey has agreed to support the applications of both countries to join the alliance, CNN reports.
According to the channel’s website, Niinistö confirmed that Ankara, Helsinki and Stockholm had signed a joint memorandum before the NATO summit in Madrid confirming the three countries’ intentions “to support each other unconditionally in terms of combating threats to their security.”
“Specific steps toward our membership in NATO will be agreed upon by the allies in the next two days, but a decision is about to be made,” CNN quoted the Finnish leader’s official statement as saying.
The CNN correspondent reminds that the US and its European allies regarded the upcoming NATO summit as a chance to make progress in terms of inclusion of Finland and Sweden into the alliance. Both countries formally applied for membership in May – but Turkish President Recep Erdogan has subsequently repeatedly said Ankara would oppose Helsinki and Stockholm joining the alliance, accusing them of harboring members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkish authorities consider a terrorist organization.
According to CNN, after signing the trilateral memorandum, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he was “confident” that Finland and Sweden could join the alliance.
“I am pleased to announce that an agreement has been signed that will open the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO. Turkey, Finland and Sweden signed a memorandum that addressed Ankara’s concerns about both arms exports and counterterrorism,” he told a news conference.
Stoltenberg said the alliance leaders will have to decide Wednesday whether to send a formal invitation to Helsinki and Stockholm to join, after which such a move will need to be ratified in each NATO capital – but there is no doubt that this will be done.
Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that the American president held telephone talks with Recep Erdogan before the NATO summit in Madrid. According to Sullivan, the leaders will also meet in person on the sidelines of the summit Wednesday and discuss “strategic issues.”
Erdogan himself told the press a little earlier on Tuesday that he spoke with his American counterpart before flying to Madrid, noting that one of the main issues in the coming days will be the applications of Finland and Sweden to join NATO, the CNN columnist emphasizes.
“On the agenda of my bilateral meetings will be the PKK. We will again clarify our position to Sweden and Finland. It is necessary that the PKK’s activities in these countries be stopped,” the Turkish leader said. “If they want to join NATO, they will have to take Turkey’s concerns into account. We need results, not empty words,” he added.