NATO | Turkish Foreign Minister praises meeting with US Blinken – wants answers to Turkey’s demands “in practice, not just in words”

Turkey foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu says his conversation with the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken with were “very positive.” In New York, the foreign ministers spoke about Finland’s and Sweden’s applications for NATO membership, which Turkey has been reluctant to address.

Çavuşoğlu said Blinken had assured him that the United States was taking the message of security concerns to Turkey. He reiterated the Turkish administration’s view that NATO cannot accept members who support “terrorist organizations.”

In the case of Finland and Sweden, Turkey has been frustrated by, among other things, the fact that Turkey protects Kurdish organizations that it considers to be terrorists. Çavuşoğlu pointed out to Blinken that both Finnish and Swedish as well as US support for Kurdish organizations should be stopped.

“We want Turkey’s concerns to be addressed in practice, not just in words. This applies not only to Sweden and Finland, but also to other allies, ”Çavuşoğlu told the Turkish newspaper after the meeting. Hürriyetin by.

Çavuşoğlu and Blinken also talked about, among other things, Turkey’s intentions to buy F-16 fighter jets from the United States.

News agency Reuters Çavuşoğlu caused a small scene at a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Berlin on Saturday, where representatives from Finland and Sweden were also present.

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan had previously surprised its NATO ally by saying that Turkey could not take a positive view of Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO applications.

On Saturday in Berlin, Çavuşoğlu outlined Turkey’s demands to approve Finland’s and Sweden’s applications. According to Reuters NATO diplomatic sources, he raised his voice when he spoke to the Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Lindelle.

“For us, it was a historic moment, but Çavuşoğlu said she was annoyed by Linde’s‘ feminist politics ’, which brought drama to the situation,” said an anonymous diplomat.

Diplomats described the use of Çavuşoğlu as “embarrassing”.

A Turkish diplomatic source, for his part, told Reuters that Çavuşoğlu had spoken respectfully about Turkey’s views and denied Linde’s claim that Turkey’s opposition was due to Sweden’s feminist foreign policy.

“His (Linden’s) comments do not help Sweden’s NATO search, while Finland’s statements are carefully worded,” said a Turkish source.