Disagreement regarding the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO they had the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken and the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu during the visit of the American minister to Ankara.

“The issue of Finland and Sweden joining NATO is not a bilateral issue. Of course, as you well know, we strongly support their inclusion as soon as possible. Both are already members of NATO for Peace, NATO’s Enhanced Opportunities Partnership. Their military works seamlessly with the rest of the Alliance. We are confident that NATO will officially welcome them soon, and when that happens, it will enhance the security of every NATO member, including the United States, including Turkey.” Anthony Blinken said and continued:

“Finland and Sweden have already taken concrete steps to fulfill the commitments they made in the framework of the tripartite memorandum of agreement they signed with Turkey on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Madrid. We welcome and appreciate these steps. I think they are quite important” he emphasized.

From his side Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusogluhe replied that not all NATO members are convinced especially about Sweden which must do more against terrorism and especially the Kurdish PKK to win back Ankara’s support. Mevlut Cavusoglu added that “terrorist financing, recruitment and propaganda continue in Sweden”while on the contrary he promised that the talks with Finland will continue soon”.