Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that Finland is showing a “positive attitude” towards the NATO accession process.
On May 18, 2022, Finland and Sweden, against the backdrop of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, applied to the NATO Secretary General to join the alliance. Of the 30 member states of the alliance, only two countries, Hungary and Turkey, have so far ratified the requests of Sweden and Finland.
Cavusoglu said during a press conference in Ankara: “We said from the very beginning that we have few problems with Finland. But both countries (Finland and Sweden), as well as a number of NATO countries, announced (want) a simultaneous process of joining them, so the tripartite memorandum was signed. Referring to the document concluded by Turkey, Finland and Sweden on June 28 last year on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid in order to remove obstacles to the entry of the two countries into the alliance, the document provided for cooperation with Ankara in the fight against terrorism.
“Since that day, Finland has made positive statements and taken positive steps regarding restrictions on arms transfers. There were no provocations, as in Sweden,” the Turkish minister added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that Turkey could make a decision on Finland’s membership in NATO, which would “shock” Sweden.
Earlier, the Turkish authorities announced the suspension of trilateral meetings and negotiations with Sweden and Finland on their entry into NATO for an indefinite period after extremist Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Holy Quran on January 21 in front of the Turkish Embassy in Sweden. capital Stockholm.
The US State Department confirmed that the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO is a “triple issue”, and refused to consider the possibility of each country joining the alliance separately.
On the other hand, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said that Helsinki might have to reconsider its application for NATO membership and consider joining the alliance without Sweden if the Swedish request is delayed for a longer period.
Source: “News”
