Stockholm, Helsinki apply for membership in Western defense alliance last month, but face Turkey
Ankara “plays with time” for the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, expecting the maximum in the “bazaar” that has begun.
Talks between Turkey, Finland and Sweden on the two Nordic countries joining NATO will continue, but the Alliance summit in Madrid next week (June 28-30) is not a deadline, Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for the Turkish president, said Monday after talks in Brussels.
Stockholm and Helsinki applied to join the Western Defense Alliance last month in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But they have faced opposition from Turkey, which has accused them of supporting and protecting Kurdish fighters and other organizations that Ankara describes as terrorist.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels after talks in NATO on the issue, Kalin stressed that Ankara expects from Sweden, in particular, take immediate action on the actions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in its own country and that any progress in the Nordic membership applications “now depends on the direction and speed with which these countries take action”.
For his part, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement that today’s talks between Turkey, Sweden and Finland to find a solution to Ankara’s integration problems were “constructive”.
“Turkey has legitimate concerns on security related to terrorism, which we must address. “Therefore, we will continue our discussions (…) and I look forward to finding a solution as soon as possible,” Stoltenberg reiterated.
What diplomatic sources say
Diplomatic sources, however, take as “positive” the fact that Ankara has agreed to participate in this negotiation, for which the NATO secretariat and the Secretary General have been pushing for days. Stoltenberg. Although no progress has been made so far, talks will continue today and tomorrow, with the hope of finding a compromise ahead of the NATO summit in Madrid despite what is being said by Turkey.
They point out, however, that even if Turkey lifts its reservations about the accession of Sweden and Finland tomorrow, there is no time in a week to make all the necessary procedures for the accession process of the two countries to proceed and to be able to participate in the NATO Summit with the status of “observer” countries. Reaching a compromise, however, would be a “very positive development” if it finally happened before Madrid, the same sources commented.
According to the same sources, in the event that Ankara decides to stop the blackmail, the three countries will sign a joint statement, which will respond to Turkish concerns about terrorism, but also to its request for the lifting of the arms embargo by Sweden. Erdogan could “sell” this statement internally, saying that he came out of the negotiation winning. However, Ankara still has demands from Helsinki and especially Stockholm to lift its security concerns about terrorism – which rumors say even include its resignation. Swedish Foreign Minister Anne Lind – it is impossible to be satisfied, they estimate. At the same time, as Turkey has more “open issues” with Sweden, while with Finland things seem easier, no one wants only Finland to join, because that would leave it exposed to the Russian threat.
Regarding the recent reports in the Turkish press that Erdogan will raise the issue of demilitarization of the Greek islands at the Madrid Summit, diplomatic sources estimate that this is not very likely to happen.
