Turkish FM discusses NATO enlargement with alliance chief, Finnish counterpart

Turkish FM discusses NATO enlargement with alliance chief, Finnish counterpart

The Turkish overseas minister on Friday mentioned NATO enlargement with the alliance’s chief and his Finnish counterpart, in keeping with diplomatic sources.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu spoke to NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto in separate cellphone calls.

Finland formally utilized for NATO membership together with Sweden in May final yr, a call spurred by Russia’s conflict on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, 2022.

The two nation’s membership to NATO is topic to ratification by all 30 member states.

But Türkiye-a NATO member for greater than 70 years-voiced objections, accusing the 2 international locations of tolerating and even supporting terrorist teams together with the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), the group behind the July 15, 2016 coup try in Türkiye.

Last June, Türkiye and the 2 Nordic international locations signed a memorandum at a NATO summit to deal with Ankara’s official safety issues, paving the best way for his or her eventual membership within the alliance.

In the memorandum, Sweden and Finland agreed to not present help to the PKK, its offshoots, and FETÖ, forestall all actions of the phobia teams, extradite terror suspects, introduce new laws to punish terrorist crimes, and finish all arms embargoes among the many three international locations.

Source: www.anews.com.tr