with VideoTurkey ends opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. At the NATO summit in Madrid, the three countries agreed on the objections Turkey initially had. This clears the way for the two Northern European countries to become members.
Foreign editors
Latest update:
22:19
Turkey, Sweden and Finland have signed a joint memorandum declaring that they will guarantee each other’s security. That “answers Turkey’s concerns,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
Sweden and Finland decided last month that they want to join NATO as soon as possible. They think they are safer within the Western military alliance than with a neutral position outside it, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But they unexpectedly encountered resistance from Turkey.
PKK
The government in Ankara demanded, among other things, that the two would-be members take a harder line against the Kurdish PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization, and against the Gülen movement. Ankara also demanded that restrictions on arms trade with Turkey be lifted.
Sweden and Finland, among other things, declare that they will no longer support the Kurds who have fought against IS in Syria. Turkey considers them an arm of the PKK. From now on they will also deal with arms exports to Turkey as ‘solidarity’ allies.
Stockholm and Helsinki are also willing to cooperate with Ankara on the extradition of terror suspects to Turkey, Stoltenberg said. But they remain protected by, for example, the human rights treaty. Finnish President Sauli Niinistö also notes that his country ‘will of course continue to operate according to its own laws’.
Quickly dispel concerns
NATO was keen to quickly dispel the Turkish reservations. As long as Ankara thwarted their accession, Sweden and Finland were left dangling without the protection of the military alliance and the loudly professed unity of the Western alliance sounded somewhat shrill.
Dutch ministers at the NATO summit in Madrid are delighted that Turkey is no longer thwarting the accession of Sweden and Finland. Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra speaks of ‘great news’. That is ‘very good, especially now that unity is so important’, says Hoekstra.
Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren is also ‘very pleased’. It is still balking, as all NATO members have yet to ratify the membership of the two countries.
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Member States’ Parliaments
The thirty NATO member states, now including Turkey, will invite Sweden and Finland to join the three-day summit. Then accession talks begin to prepare the two countries for membership. But that does not have to take long because they have been very close to the alliance for years.
A more important obstacle is the parliaments of the member states, which must give the two their approval. The Netherlands in particular usually takes a lot of time for this, but the allies have already promised to make as much haste as possible. Perhaps it could be completed within six months to a year, NATO sources estimate.
The affiliation of Sweden and Finland with NATO is considered very important for the defense against Russia. As a result, the Baltic members of the alliance are no longer isolated, easy prey. And the Baltic Sea, on which Saint Petersburg and the Russian naval port of Kaliningrad are located, is getting features of a NATO inland sea.
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Crucial
Turkey’s approval was crucial as the military alliance makes its decisions by consensus. Any of the 30 member states can veto a new member. Turkey, which has NATO’s second largest army, has traditionally favored NATO expansion. President Erdogan has previously said that the alliance’s “open door policy” improves security in the region. Erdogan is therefore positive about the accession of Ukraine and Georgia.
For Finland, joining NATO is even more exciting than it is for its Swedish neighbours. The country shares a border of more than 1,300 kilometers with the Russians and the non-membership was a very conscious choice not to upset Moscow. A Russian response was inevitable: the Kremlin has indirectly threatened to place nuclear weapons in the Baltic region if NATO expands further. If Sweden and Finland join, a nuclear-weapon-free Baltic Sea region is impossible, said Russian Security Council deputy president Dmitry Medvedev.
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