Progress on Finland and Sweden’s NATO bids ahead of this month’s NATO summit in Madrid depends on their response to Turkey’s demands, a spokesman for President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.
Stockholm and Helsinki applied to join the Western Defense Alliance last month in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but faced opposition from Turkey, which accused them of supporting and hosting Kurdish fighters and other terrorist groups.
While Sweden and Finland have said talks with Turkey will continue to resolve the dispute, Erdogan said on Wednesday that Ankara had not received any proposals for its demands, which include suspending support for groups that Turkey considers terrorists. , the extradition of suspects wanted by Turkey and the lifting of the arms embargo on Ankara.
Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan’s spokesman and chief foreign policy adviser, told the Spanish newspaper El Pais that the way Finland and Sweden would meet Turkey’s demands would determine whether progress could be made before the NATO summit. in Madrid on June 29-30.
“It depends on what Sweden and Finland do,” he said. “Once we see progress in our demands, then the process will move forward. NATO is neither a tourism nor an economic alliance; it is a security alliance, which means it must provide security to all its members equally and fairly.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during a visit to Washington this week that he would convene senior officials from Finland, Sweden and Turkey in Brussels in the coming days to discuss the issue.
An effort to join NATO requires the support of each of its 30 members. Turkey, which has been a NATO ally for more than 70 years, has said it will not change its position unless the Nordic countries take “concrete steps” on its concerns.
Source: Capital
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