Sweden and Finland will send delegations to Ankara this week, in the hope of convincing Turkey to no longer oppose their candidacy to join NATO, the Finnish Foreign Minister said on Tuesday 24 May.
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“When we see problems arise, of course, we take the diplomatic route. We send our delegations to visit Ankara, from both Sweden and Finland. It will happen tomorrowsaid Pekka Haavisto at a roundtable in Davos, where the World Economic Forum is hosting a meeting this week. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Helsinki to rethink the position that had long kept it outside the Atlantic Alliance, the minister recalled.
A “draft agreement» prepared by Ankara
“We believe that NATO is a group of 30 democratic countries with common values and very strong transatlantic cooperation, and that is what we are looking for at the moment.“, he added. According to a statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Presidency Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin and Deputy Minister Sedat Onal will attend the meeting to be held on Wednesday. According to Turkish private television NTV, quoting Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu, Ankara has prepared a “draft agreementwhich will serve as a basis for the discussions. Turkey wantsguarantees» which can be given in an official and signed agreement.
Turkey has long accused the Nordic countries, and in particular Sweden, which has a large community of Turkish immigrants, of harboring Kurdish militants as well as supporters of the preacher Fethullah Gülen, who has been living in the United States since 1999 and accused of orchestrating the coup attempt in July 2016. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again warned on Saturday that he would oppose the two countries’ candidacy for NATO until they met his demands. in the fight against terrorism – which could represent a major obstacle, since a consensus is necessary for the decisions of the Alliance.
Read alsoNATO: Erdogan determined to block the entry of Sweden and Finland
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“We understand that Turkey has security concerns of its own, such as terrorismcommented Pekka Haavisto. “We think we have good answers” and “that this problem can be solved“. Some analysts believe that Ankara’s opposition may also be aimed at extracting concessions from other NATO members, for example obtaining deliveries of fighter planes from the United States. “There could also be other issues that are not directly related to Finland and Sweden“, also commented on Tuesday Pekka Haavisto, saying he was convinced that “NATO can solve this problem“.
Summit in Madrid
Asked about the subject by the President of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Spanish Prime Minister assured that Sweden and Finland will also be present at the Alliance summit in Madrid, from June 28 to 30. “They are two great democracies (…) and I believe it is very important (…) to have them on our side as allies of NATO“, continued Pedro Sanchez. “The atmosphere, the current context and the political will of the allies is to work on these two countries“, said the Spanish socialist leader, assuring that Spain was going for its part “speed up the parliamentary processwith a view to ratifying this membership.
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For the Prime Minister, themain purposeof the Madrid summit will beunity among allies” and “between NATO and the European Union“. A “informal dinner“during this summit”between EU member states – some of which are not NATO members – and NATO is in preparation“, he added.
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