ISTANBUL:
Sweden and Finland have fulfilled their obligations to Turkey and should be allowed entry into the NATO, Secretary-General of the military alliance Jens Stoltenberg said here.
“It’s time to welcome Finland and Sweden as full members of NATO,” said Stoltenberg during a press conference in Istanbul with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday.
“Their accession will make our alliance stronger and our people safer,” he said, noting that Finland and Sweden are ready to work closer with Turkey to fight terrorism.
Turkey, along with Hungary, are yet to finalis the process of ratifying the NATO memberships for the two Nordic countries despite signing the initial protocol in July.
Turkey has repeatedly stated that before the process could be finalized, Finland and Sweden must take “concrete steps” to ease its concerns, including signing criminal extradition protocols and lifting sanctions on Ankara’s defence industry.
Stoltenberg aims to accelerate the ratification process by Turkey during his three-day visit, during which he will also hold meetings with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Defence Minister Hulusi Akar.
However, in response to the NATO chief’s remarks, Cavusoglu stated that the two Nordic countries have not fulfilled all their obligations and more steps are needed to be taken by them.
“Some steps were taken indeed. But it is impossible to state that they have been fully implemented by these two countries. It is not our intent to block (NATO’s) expansion. We just want to see concrete steps,” the Foreign Minister added.
