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NATO chief confident Turkey will ratify accession protocols for Finland, Sweden

According to Jens Stoltenberg, the ratification of accession protocols for Finland and Sweden "has been so far the quickest accession process in NATO’s modern history"

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg REUTERS/Johanna Geron

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg

© REUTERS/Johanna Geron

BRUSSELS, January 10. /TASS/. Turkey will ratify the NATO accession protocols for Finland and Sweden, the bloc’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

"I’m confident that the accession process will be finalized and all NATO allies will ratify the accession protocols in the parliaments, and that also goes for Turkey," he stated at a press conference following the signing of the Joint Declaration on EU-NATO Cooperation.

According to Stoltenberg, "this has been so far the quickest accession process in NATO’s modern history." The NATO accession process normally "takes years," he noted, adding that 28 out of the 30 NATO allies had ratified the protocols on Finland and Sweden joining NATO. Turkey and Hungary haven’t done it yet, according to data on the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s website.

On May 18, 2022, Helsinki and Stockholm submitted their applications to join the alliance but the process was blocked by Turkey who demanded that the two countries extradite those suspected of terrorism and being involved in the 2016 coup to Ankara, and lift bans on weapons supplies to Turkey. Talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg took place in Madrid on June 28. As a result, a memorandum was signed making it possible for Sweden and Finland to join NATO. The Turkish leader stated that Sweden had pledged to extradite over 70 people involved in terrorist activities.

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