NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Saturday that he had discussed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the importance of opening the door to the alliance to the two applications for accession submitted by Finland and Sweden.
Stoltenberg added via his Twitter account that he agreed with Erdogan that “the security concerns of all allies must be taken into account, and that talks must continue to find a solution.”
In this context, Erdogan stressed, in a telephone conversation with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson, the need for her country to end what he described as political and financial support for “terrorist” organizations and stop arming them.
And the Anatolian News Agency reported today, Saturday, that Erdogan discussed with Anderson her country’s request to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), after Ankara recently announced its rejection of Sweden and Finland joining the alliance.
The agency added that Erdogan also stressed to Anderson the need for her country to lift the restrictions it had imposed on Turkey in the defense industries after it launched a military operation in Syria.
The Turkish president also expressed Ankara’s aspiration for Sweden to take “concrete steps” that take into account his country’s concerns about the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its extensions in Syria and Iraq, according to Anatolia.
Later, Anadolu Agency said that Erdogan discussed by phone with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinistö his country’s request to join NATO and bilateral relations. “The perspective that ignores terrorist organizations that pose a threat to a NATO ally is not in keeping with the spirit of friendship and alliance,” the agency quoted the Turkish president as saying.
The President of Finland said on his Twitter account that he told his Turkish counterpart during the call that the two countries will be committed to each other’s security as NATO allies, and then their relations will grow stronger.
Niinistö added on Twitter that Finland condemns “terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” noting that the “close” dialogue between the two countries will continue.