Turkey’s foreign minister has demanded that Sweden and Finland stop supporting groups they consider to be terrorists if they want to join NATO.
Speaking after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Berlin, Germany on May 15, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he had met his Swedish and Finnish counterparts, and said the sides were looking for ways to resolve the issues. Turkey concerns.
“Our position is completely open and clear,” Cavusoglu said, insisting that Turkey is not threatening anyone or looking for an advantage. He expressed concern about the Switzerland supports the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist by Turkey, the United States and the European Union (EU).
“There must be security guarantees. They need to stop supporting terrorist organizations,” said Foreign Minister Cavusoglu, demanding that Sweden and Finland end their ban on the export of certain goods in the sector. defense to Turkey.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu during a press conference in Berlin, Germany on May 15. Image: Reuters.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Turkey would not block Finland and Sweden’s alliance membership, and expressed confidence in addressing the concerns raised by Ankara.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on May 13 stated that Turkey “does not have a positive view” on the fact that Sweden and Finland joining NATO, accusing the two Nordic countries of harboring groups that Ankara considers terrorists.
However, Erdogan’s spokesman later said Turkey did not close the door to NATO for the two Nordic countries.
After Russia launched a special military operation aimed at “demilitarization and de-fascism .” Ukraine“, Finland and Sweden decided to consider the possibility of joining NATO, abandoning the decades-old policy of no military alliance.
The President and Prime Minister of Finland on May 15 confirmed that the country will join NATO, calling it a historic decision that opens a new era. As a next step, the Finnish parliament will meet on May 16 to discuss the decision to apply to join NATO. Experts predict a majority of the 200 Finnish parliamentarians will support the decision to apply to join NATO.
Seven decades of NATO advance in Europe. Click to see details.
Finland shares a border of more than 1,300 km with Russia. They became neutral through a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union in 1948, with the hope of preventing a recurrence of the 1939 Finnish-Soviet war, which killed more than 80,000 soldiers.
Throughout the Cold War, the Nordic country maintained its principle of non-alignment, despite the influence of both blocs led by the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union. America leader. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Finland gradually shifted its foreign focus to the West, marked by its decision to join the EU in 1995.
Sweden, which is a neighbor to Finland, took a similar path after the end of the Cold War, joining the EU in 1995 and increasing cooperation with NATO. Sweden has avoided joining any military alliance for more than 200 years.
Nguyen Tien (According to Reuters, AFP)
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