President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg discussed Sweden and Finland’s bids to join the military alliance.
During their phone chat on Wednesday, Erdogan underlined his position that efforts should be done to address Turkey’s “legitimate worries” about Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership demands, according to a Xinhua news agency report.
Erdogan reminded Stoltenberg that in order to advance in their NATO membership, Turkey wants formal assurances from the two Nordic nations.
He stressed that “progress in the process cannot be achieved without concrete initiatives that match Turkey’s legitimate expectations, and without formal promises to a paradigm shift in the fight against terrorism and defence industry collaboration,” according to the statement.
Following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February, Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in May.
Except for Turkey, NATO partners have praised the two countries’ ideas.
The admission of new NATO members necessitates the agreement of current NATO members.
Ankara, on the other hand, opposed to Sweden and Finland joining the alliance, citing their ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and other anti-Turkish organisations.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, has been rebelling against the Ankara government for more than three decades.
Turkey also accuses the two countries of harbouring members of the Gulen Movement, which Ankara says is behind the failed military coup attempt in 2016.
(with inputs from IANS)