BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg does not expect any delay in Finland and Sweden joining NATO due to Turkey’s objections. Turkey has made it clear that it does not want to block accession, Stoltenberg said on Sunday at the end of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Berlin. “Therefore I am confident that we can address the objections raised by Turkey in a way that will not delay the accession process.”
Finland announced on Sunday that it would submit an application for membership. The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has also triggered a major debate about joining NATO in Sweden, which has also been non-aligned up to now. A decision by the Social Democrats of Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson was expected there on Sunday. Andersson leads a minority government in which only her party participates.
At the meeting of the 30 alliance states in Berlin, Turkey had made approval of the accession of the two countries subject to conditions. The country is demanding support in the fight against the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK and the Kurdish militia YPG in Syria. Ankara also criticizes the fact that several countries have restricted the delivery of armaments to Turkey because of the Turkish fight against these groups./mfi/bk/aha/DP/he