The NATO secretary-general announced on Wednesday that he would bring together officials from Sweden, Finland and Turkey “in the coming days” to try to overcome Turkish resistance to the two Nordic countries’ accession ahead of the Atlantic Alliance summit .
• Also read: Ukraine: Severodonetsk is about to fall, Kyiv expects new American weapons
• Also read: [EN DIRECT] 98th day of the war in Ukraine: here are the latest developments
• Also read: Ukraine has no intention of using Washington’s weapons against Russia
“We are of course in close contact with Turkey, a key NATO ally, and with the two countries that have applied to join NATO, Finland and Sweden,” Jens Stoltenberg said during a press conference with the US diplomatic chief Antony Blinken in Washington.
“I will convene a meeting” in Brussels “with senior officials” in a few days to “ensure progress is made on the candidatures,” he added.
The head of the western military alliance said he “intends” to reach a result “before the June 28-30 NATO summit” in Madrid. “At the same time, I know that to make progress, you need the approval of the organization’s 30 allied members,” he admitted.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland presented their candidacy for NATO on May 18. But Turkey has created a crisis within the alliance of which it is a member by opposing the accession of these two countries, which were supported by the overwhelming majority of the other member states.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan specifically accuses Stockholm and Helsinki of harboring “terrorists” from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“Finland and Sweden have made it clear that they are ready for talks to address the concerns raised by Turkey”, “especially about the threats to Turkey from the PKK”, declared Jens Stoltenberg and assured that this was “very serious”. take. .
“We know that no other NATO ally has suffered as much from terrorist attacks as Turkey,” he added.
He insisted on the status of Ankara, a “key ally” due to its “geographical location on the Iraq-Syria border,” giving it a strategic role in the fight against the jihadist group “Islamic State,” but also on the banks of the Islamic State conceded Black Sea “near Russia”.
“I’m confident of finding a way forward,” emphasized the NATO chief.
Antony Blinken gave his strong “support” to Jens Stoltenberg’s diplomatic efforts and also said he was “very confident”.
However, the US Secretary of State rejected any connection between the negotiations for the delivery of American fighter jets to Turkey and the lifting of the Turkish blockade on the Swedish and Finnish candidacy.
“Those are two separate issues,” he said.