“Were not easy weeks”
Baerbock is relieved that Turkey is giving way
06/29/2022, 09:43 am
For Annalena Baerbock, the matter is clear: “The accession of Finland and Sweden will also make NATO stronger.” For a long time, people in Ankara didn’t share this knowledge – or didn’t want to admit it. Turkey has now given the green light and the Foreign Minister is satisfied.
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has welcomed the end of Turkish resistance to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. She was “very” relieved about the agreement between Turkey, Sweden and Finland because it was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s goals to “divide us as allies,” said Baerbock shortly before the start of the NATO summit in Madrid in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”.
“These weren’t easy weeks,” said Baerbock, referring to the weeks-long struggle for Turkey’s approval of the two EU countries joining NATO. Ankara’s resistance made it clear that there are different interests in alliances. However, it had become clear that “the decisive factor” was “to stand up for security, democracy and freedom”. It is all the more important “that it is now clear that common NATO protection applies to Finland and Sweden.”
Both countries are “very strong liberal democracies”, EU members and have worked with NATO in the past, stressed the Foreign Minister. “Both countries have strong armies,” emphasized Baerbock. “The accession of Finland and Sweden also makes NATO stronger.”
“Concrete steps to extradite terrorist criminals”
On Tuesday, just before the start of the NATO summit in Madrid, Turkey surprisingly gave up its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. According to Turkish information, the two Nordic countries had previously responded to several key demands from Turkey. The foreign ministers of the three countries signed the agreement in Madrid in front of the camera. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg then announced that Sweden and Finland would be officially “invited” this Wednesday.
In the course of the Russian attack on Ukraine, Sweden and Finland broke with their decades-long tradition of military alliance neutrality and applied for NATO membership in May. Allies must unanimously agree to admit new members. Turkey was the only country to oppose it. Ankara accused Helsinki and above all Stockholm of providing shelter to fighters from the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
According to Turkish information, the two NATO candidates have now pledged “concrete steps to extradite terrorist criminals” and pledged to ban “the fundraising and recruitment activities of the PKK and its member organizations” in their countries.