Brussels: NATO aims to resolve difficulties in Turkey’s relations with Finland and Sweden to accept the two Nordic states in the alliance as soon as possible, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday
“The aim is to solve those issues as soon as possible to be able to welcome Finland and Sweden as full members,” Stoltenberg said at a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.
“Therefore we are working hard and actively on this issues on close consultations with Stockholm with Helsinki and off course with our NATO ally Turkey,” he added.
On May 18, Finland and Sweden submitted their NATO membership applications, abandoning decades of neutrality and citing a shift in the security situation in Europe shattered by the Ukrainian crisis. However, Turkey blocked the application review process over Finland’s and Sweden’s long-standing support of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Turkey has designated as a terrorist organization.
