The NATO summit scheduled for next week in Madrid is not a “deadline” for deciding on Sweden’s and Finland’s candidacies for the Atlantic Alliance, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim said on Monday. Kalin, as Turkey threatens to block the accession of the two Nordic countries.
The talks will continue. The rest depends on the steps they will takehe added after a meeting in Brussels with the representatives of Sweden and Finland.
The general secretary of theNATOJens Stoltenberg, who on Monday chaired the meeting between the Ankara, Stockholm and Helsinki delegations, described the meeting as constructive.
The membership of Finland and Sweden will make the Alliance stronger and the entire Euro-Atlantic area more secure. Turkey has legitimate security concerns about terrorism that we must addresshe said.
Mr. Stoltenberg added that the parties will continue the talks and affirmed his wish to find an agreement as soon as possible.
Ankara accuses the two Nordic countries of harboring militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), classified as terrorist by Turkey and its Western allies.
She also denounces the presence in these two countries of supporters of the preacher Fethullah Gülen, whom she suspects of having orchestrated the coup attempt of July 2016. Turkey said last week that it had sent its requests in writing to Stockholm and Helsinki and that she expected from them concrete answers.
France Media Agency
Source: Radio-Canada
