Finnish President Sauli Niinisto announces that Turkey will support Finland’s and Sweden’s invitation to join NATO at this week’s NATO summit in Madrid.
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The Finnish presidency statement indicated that the three countries agreed to support each other in the fight against terrorism.
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said today, Tuesday, that Turkey has agreed to support the joint membership application submitted by his country and Sweden to NATO.
The Finnish President held a meeting, today, Tuesday, in Madrid, before the NATO summit, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.
And the Finnish presidency said in a statement that “as a result of this meeting, the foreign ministers of the three countries signed a tripartite memorandum confirming Turkey’s support for the invitation of Finland and Sweden to become members of NATO, during the summit to be held in Madrid this week. Over the next two days, the allies will agree on specific steps for our accession.” to NATO.
The statement indicated that the three countries agreed to support each other in the fight against terrorism.
In turn, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that Finland and Sweden have expressed their readiness to work with Turkey on requests to extradite suspects as terrorists, adding that NATO leaders will invite Sweden and Finland to join the alliance tomorrow, Wednesday.
Stoltenberg indicated that this step “will change the security situation in the Baltics,” adding that “the door to the alliance will remain open despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to expand.”
Finland and Sweden will not support the PKK and Gulen
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan obtained “full cooperation” from Finland and Sweden against the PKK militants and their allies, the Turkish presidency announced in a statement on Tuesday evening.
“Turkey got what it wanted,” the Turkish presidency said in a statement.
The statement indicated that the two candidates pledged their commitment to “full cooperation with Turkey in combating” the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara and its Western allies consider a terrorist organization, as well as against its affiliated movements.
The statement added that the two countries would also ban “fundraising and recruitment activities” for Kurdish militants and “ban terrorist propaganda against Turkey.”
Also, Helsinki and Stockholm pledged to “show solidarity with Turkey in the fight against terrorism in all its forms.”
The two capitals also accepted not to “impose restrictions or bans on defense industries,” according to the Turkish presidency’s statement, in reference to the ban on arms deliveries to Turkey in response to Ankara’s military intervention in Syria in 2019.
And she was The Swedish Foreign Minister said:Earlier today, negotiations on Ankara’s opposition to Sweden and Finland’s requests to join NATO made progress, and a breakthrough could be achieved at the current NATO summit in Madrid.
Erdogan’s spokesman and deputy foreign minister met Swedish and Finnish officials in Brussels on Monday for consultations on the membership application ahead of the four-way talks. Turkish officials and Western diplomats told Archyde.com that a breakthrough in Madrid was unlikely.
Erdogan said he would explain Turkey’s position to allies at the summit and in bilateral meetings. He added that he spoke to Biden, this morning, Tuesday, and they will meet later today or tomorrow, Wednesday, at the request of the US President.
In contravention of a decades-old policy of neutrality, Finland and Sweden asked to join NATOin light of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, but they faced opposition from Turkey, due to what it says is the two countries’ support for groups it considers “terrorist”, and because of the imposition of an arms embargo on Ankara.
Turkey has held talks with the two countries and NATO to address its concerns, and has submitted written requests to officials in Sweden and Finland. She said, at the time, that The response to her requests was not satisfactoryAnd it will oppose their request to join the alliance unless the two countries meet their demands.