Hungary, but especially Turkey, have been blocking Sweden and Finland joining NATO since May – What Stoltenberg said
In an intervention to Ankara regarding the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, the Secretary General of the Alliance made this Sunday Jens Stoltenberg, after Stockholm’s declaration that it is not prepared to meet every Turkish demand.
“Finland and Sweden kept the agreement, and are committed to a long-term cooperation with Turkey on these issues. Consequently, the time has come to finalize the accession process and ratify the accession protocol” noted the governor. of NATO.
Sweden and Finland could to join NATO by 2023, estimated Jens Stoltenberg, reminding however that the developments will depend on the parliaments of Turkey and Hungary.
Earlier, Sweden’s prime minister criticized some of Turkey’s demands. In December, Turkey’s Supreme Court refused to extradite journalist Bulent Kenes to Ankara, as requested by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ankara “is also saying that it wants things that we cannot and do not want to give it,” Ulf Christerson told a defense and security conference. So far, there is no official reaction from Ankara to the statements of the Swedish prime minister.
“I expect (that the accession will take place in 2023) but I cannot guarantee the exact date because it is certainly a decision of the parliaments of Turkey and Hungary which have not yet ratified the agreement,” Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview at the French Agency.
“We held negotiations, and they were quite demanding, last July when Turkey, Finland and Sweden reached a memorandum in which they described how they could intensify their cooperation, both in the field of arms exports but also, for example, in fight against terrorism,” Stoltenberg also recalled.
However, Stoltenberg acknowledged that this is a rapid accession process. “Certainly, I would like it to be finalized as soon as possible. But at the same time, it is a fast process, compared to all NATO accession processes. I am convinced that it will happen but I reserve the right to guess when exactly,” he concluded.
Hungary, but especially Turkey, block the accession of the two Nordic countries to NATO since May.
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