Turkey states that written guarantees from Sweden and Finland will be needed during Wednesday’s meeting
Top Turkish officials are due to meet with representatives from NATO member countries Sweden and Finland on Wednesday in Ankara to discuss Turkey’s objections about their alliance membership. Turkish Foreign Minister said Tuesday that Turkey would seek assurances from Nordic nations regarding the curbing of terrorism. “support of terrorism.”
Swedish Secretary of State Oscar Stenstrom, and Jukka Salovaara (his Finnish counterpart), are the heads of European delegations. They represent their second highest diplomats. The Turkish Foreign Ministry confirmed Tuesday that they will be meeting with Sedat Onal, the Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister, and Ibrahim Kalin.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his nation will seek written guarantees from Finland and Sweden that they will address Turkey’s concerns before their NATO accession can proceed.
“We expect concrete steps, we cannot move forward with some good wishes,”He spoke to CNN Turk. He suggested that there could be a meeting of four countries, including a representative from NATO.
Ankara calls for the countries to act against Kurdish terrorists whom Turkey considers terrorists and lift arms trade restrictions with Turkey.
President Erdogan’s office outlined the same demands directed specifically at Sweden on Monday.
According to the statement, Turkey had been seeking extradition from Sweden of individuals wanted since 2017. Turkey demanded the expulsion of wanted individuals from Sweden.
Under the collective security principle of NATO, Türkiye expects concrete assurances from Sweden, which supports terrorist organizations. ⁰Stronger Together pic.twitter.com/Srj9kBLWak
— T.C. İletişim Başkanlığı (@iletisim) May 23, 2022
Nordic delegations will attempt to solve the Turkish problem. “security concerns vis a vis terrorism”Pekka Haavisto, Finnish Foreign Minister, stated this during a discussion panel at Davos’ World Economic Forum. “There might be also some issues that are not linked directly to Finland and Sweden but more to other NATO members,”He added.
Foreign Minister Cavusoglu, who is making a visit to Palestine and Israel this week, also discussed Turkey’s request to buy F-16 fighter jets and upgrade kits from the US. He told reporters during his flight from Tel Aviv that the deal was progressing, and it isn’t tied to NATO expansion.
“We have requested the removal of defense restrictions from the US, and we will continue to demand it,”He added that the US had placed sanctions on Turkey to punish it for buying advanced Russian S-400 anti-aircraft systems.
Robert Menendez of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and other American lawmakers suggested that F-16 could be frozen until Turkey welcomes Sweden, Finland, and Finland to NATO.
Two Nordic states applied for admission to the US’s military bloc. All current NATO members must approve accession, including Turkey. Turkey has threatened to veto any concessions made by Finland or Sweden regarding its national security interests.
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