BRUSSELS, 15 May. (EUROPE PRESS) –
NATO has appealed this Sunday to consensus and “impeccable unity” during the war in Ukraine to also advance in the accession of Finland and Sweden to the military organization, overcoming the reluctance of Turkey, which threatens a blockade alleging that both Scandinavian countries have harbored “terrorists” in the past.
After the informal dinner in Berlin this Saturday, in which the Allied Foreign Ministers met with their counterparts from Finland and Sweden and were able to exchange views on the accession of both Nordic countries, the Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mircea Geoana, He has assured that the conversation was “frank” and addressed Turkish concerns.
“I am sure that if the two countries decide in the next few days to request their entry into NATO, we will be able to welcome them and find all the conditions to have a consensus,” Geoana said, in statements before the summit that he chairs in replacement of the general secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, convalescing from coronavirus.
In this sense, the Romanian politician did not want to assess the reluctance expressed by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and limited himself to commenting that he hopes the allies will face this scenario in a “constructive” and “positive” way. “Finland and Sweden are already NATO’s closest partners, we work with them in many ways and they are vibrant democracies,” he stressed.
Similarly, he has appealed to the “impeccable unity” of the allies and to coordination with organizations such as the EU and the G7 in the response to the war in Ukraine to advance the debate, stressing that NATO is the “platform for security talks.
Erdogan spoke out this week against the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO, stating that Scandinavia is “a guest house for terrorism” and recalled the “mistake” that, in his opinion, was the fact that his country allowed Greece’s entry into the Atlantic Alliance.
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