Stoltenberg asks Turkey to complete the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO in the three-way meeting

BRUSSELS, 9 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, has reiterated this Thursday in the meeting between Sweden, Finland and Turkey at the NATO headquarters the call to Ankara to finalize the ratification of the accession of both Nordic countries to the organization, which It has been blocked for months due to reluctance about the lack of cooperation in the fight against terrorism by Kurdish groups.

"Finland and Sweden have taken unprecedented steps to address Turkey's legitimate security concerns. The time has come for all allies to conclude the ratification process and welcome Finland and Sweden as full members of the Alliance before of the next NATO summit in Vilnius", said the former Norwegian prime minister, according to a NATO statement on the meeting called three-way by Stoltenberg to unblock the entry of Swedes and Finns.

This is the third of its kind in recent months, although this was perceived as key to channeling the talks after new disputes over the burning of the Koran in demonstrations in Sweden and after months of broken contacts between Ankara and the two Nordic countries.

All in all, the meeting has served for senior Turkish, Finnish and Swedish officials to put on the table the concrete steps carried out within the framework of the trilateral agreement agreed last June in Madrid to advance the accession of Sweden and Finland. "All the participants welcomed the progress made", has collected the press release of the Atlantic Alliance.

In their eagerness to accede to the alliance, Sweden and Finland have removed the ban on arms exports to Turkey, have increased cooperation in the fight against terrorism and, in particular, Sweden is strengthening its anti-terrorism legislation, NATO has recognized.

For the allies, the entry "as soon as possible" of Stockholm and Helsinki into the military organization is a priority and now the summit of NATO leaders in Lithuania on July 11 and 12 is set as the deadline for accession. In any case, the Allied Secretary General himself acknowledged this week that he has no "guarantees" that the calendar will be met despite the fact that, as he has defended, both candidates have complied with the provisions of the trilateral agreement signed with Ankara.