The United States urged Turkey to ratify the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO

USA urged this Thursday to Turkey to ratify as soon as possible the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO. The request, which has been pending for several months, was made even more difficult after last Friday Ankara demanded more conditions to Stockholm.

On this occasion he was the Secretary of State Anthony Blinken who had a phone call with his counterparts in Sweden and Finland –Tobias Billstrom Y Pekka Haavisto– in order to reiterate Washington’s full support for their entry into the Alliance.

In the conversation, Blinken referred to the foreign ministries of the Nordic countries their “strong conviction” that they are prepared to accede to NATO.

In this sense, the Secretary’s call was supported by a release Issued by State Department Spokesperson, Ned Price, although he did not explicitly mention Turkey in it. “The United States urges the remaining allies to quickly ratify their adherence”reads in the writing.

Last Friday, Turkey once again warned Sweden that it has to honor its commitments on the fight against groups and individuals considered terrorists for Ankara if he wants me to lift his entry ban. So he demanded not just verbal condemnations but also actions.

“The presence and activities of the terrorist organization there continue (…) Sweden has promised to prevent them. There is an obvious truth. The terrorist organization and those who support it want to prevent Sweden from joining NATO,” the Turkish Foreign Minister said at the time. Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Likewise, Ankara summoned the Nordic ambassador to the country to express its discontent about a concentration occurred before the Stockholm City Hall in which a group of Kurdish protesters simulated run and hang a dummy symbolizing the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In this regard, Minister Çavusoglu pointed out: “You cannot escape simply by condemning them” verbally.

However, the Swedish Prime Minister, ulf kristerssondescribed the fact as “very serious” and considered that his country is still in a “good situation” for Turkey to ratify its accession.

Also, a few days ago Kristersson explained that they are evaluating Ankara’s requests within the framework of his government’s convictions. “Sweden has legislation on extraditions and we cling to it. Turkey has made demands and they are being studied the way they have to be studied,” she mentioned.

For her part, the Finnish Prime Minister, sanna marinopined this Tuesday that “good steps” are being taken in pursuit of Ankara lifting its veto.

Along with Turkey, Hungary It is the second and last country that has not yet given the go-ahead for both Nordic countries to join the Atlantic Alliance. Although they have promised to do so in the coming weeks, the cessation of their veto has been pending since the provision was approved at the NATO summit last June in Madrid.

(With information from EFE)

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