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Turkey to support Sweden, Finland joining NATO if solidarity with Ankara shown — Erdogan

Stoltenberg said it was necessary to resolve Turkey’s security concerns

ANKARA, May 21. /TASS/. Turkey will support Sweden and Finland joining NATO once Stockholm and Helsinki clearly demonstrate their solidarity with Ankara’s concerns in the security field, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in their talks over the phone on Saturday.

"President Erdogan stated that Turkey wholeheartedly supports NATO’s open-door policy and that the issue concerning applications of Sweden and Finland for NATO membership is about those two countries’ attitude toward Turkey’s vital national security interests," the Turkish presidential office told reporters.

"President Erdogan said that unless Sweden and Finland clearly demonstrate that they will stand in solidarity with Turkey on fundamental issues, especially in the war on terror, [Ankara] will not look favorably upon those countries’ membership in NATO," the office said.

Stoltenberg said it was necessary to resolve Turkey’s security concerns.

Finnish and Swedish ambassadors to NATO, Klaus Korhonen and Axel Vernhoff, on Wednesday handed their countries’ applications for NATO membership to the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Speaking at the summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization in Moscow on May 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow would retaliate against the expansion of NATO’s military infrastructures in Finland and Sweden. At the same time, the Russian leader remarked that NATO’s admission of Finland and Sweden did not pose an immediate threat to Russia, because Moscow had no problems in relations with these countries.

Erdogan said on May 18 that Ankara would refuse to support the admission of Sweden and Finland to NATO until they made a decision on their attitude to terrorist organizations, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Turkey regards as terrorist. He made a similar statement on May 16, adding that he was against admitting Finland and Sweden to NATO due to these countries’ refusal to extradite accomplices in KWP’s activity to Turkey. Also, Erdogan advised the Scandinavian countries not bother to send delegations in an attempt to convince Turkey of their bids.

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NATO Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan Finland Sweden

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