NATO | Biden said he supported Finland’s and Sweden’s “historic NATO applications” and was working to get them accepted quickly.

The United States president Joe Biden has published on Wednesday, an official statement expressing his strong support for Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership.

“I strongly support Finland’s and Sweden’s historic NATO applications, and I intend to work closely with the US Congress and our NATO allies to rapidly bring Finland and Sweden into the strongest defense alliance in history,” Biden said in a statement.

According to the president, NATO will secure more than a billion people in Europe and North America. “My commitment to NATO and Article 5 is iron-on,” Biden says.

Biden also promises to offer support to Finland and Sweden against possible attacks or threats of attack during the confirmation of membership. In his statement, he states that Finland and Sweden are long-term allies of the United States. Biden also highlights the security of the Baltic Sea and the maintenance of a NATO presence in its territory.

Although In his statement, Biden says he is “working closely with his NATO allies,” the president does not specifically mention Turkey in his statement.

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he will not accept Finland and Sweden as members of NATO unless “terrorists” are extradited to Turkey.

Bloomberg news agency reported on Wednesday morningthat Turkey would be ready to accept Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership if the country returned to the NATO-US F-35 fighter program. According to Bloomberg, Turkey is also demanding other concessions, such as the liberalization of the arms trade and a tighter grip on the Kurds.

Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute Toni Alaranta told HS that Turkey ‘s demands could lead to a stalemate. In Turkish Published in Sabah on Wednesday, a ten-point list of demands that Turkey has on NATO. The magazine describes the list as a “manifest”.

On Wednesday The start of NATO talks between Finland and Sweden was postponed. According to the Financial Times the reason was precisely the Turkish opposition.

On Thursday, the President of the Republic Sauli Niinistö and the Prime Minister of Sweden Magdalena Andersson meet Biden in Washington. In his statement, Biden mentions the meeting and says it will continue to process the countries’ NATO applications.