He now assures that “we will not close the door”, but states that he wants to negotiate with the two countries about the Kurds
Turkey corrects. From insinuating a veto to insisting “it won’t close the door” to Finland and Sweden joining NATO. And all that in a handful of hours. Coinciding with a meeting of foreign ministers that began this Saturday in Berlin. And after US officials admitted they were working to clarify Ankara’s “position”. And of course to underline below that the United States would wholeheartedly support the inclusion of the Scandinavians in the military organization. Germany noticed it again. Cause-effect relationship? Too much evidence.
Piece by piece. The candidacy of both countries was high on the agenda of that informal meeting in the German capital. A new “small and intimate” format, the organizers emphasized, with this momentous issue on the table. And a new discussion about the formulas to support Ukraine more. The meeting was encased in a working dinner that started at 7 p.m. and was attended as guests by Ann Linde, head of Swedish foreign affairs, and Finn Pekka Haavisto. They informed their NATO counterparts about public opinion and the status of discussions in their country about joining the military organization.
And of course. The premise (this unofficial one) was to ensure that the threat launched Friday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would remain a simple firecracker. The Ottoman president sent a discordant message, with that of “I have no positive verdict” on the annexation of these countries, which he even accused of harboring “terrorist organizations”, with a clear reference to the members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the revolutionary DHKP-C. “Some are in their parliaments,” he added.
Ankara had attracted all the attention. And there were fears of even more gulf between the thirty allied countries. But, at least yesterday, they didn’t happen. As contacts with Ankara. In the morning, a telephone conversation between NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoglu was acknowledged. No details were offered. And before the working dinner in Berlin, the Finnish minister returned to poll his Turkish colleague.
In Helsinki, some details of that dialogue leaked to the press. The Finnish newspaper ‘Iltalehti’, citing sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defense, assured that Çavuşoglu told Haavisto that “Turkey’s critical stance only affected Sweden’s candidacy for NATO.” Something that coincided with what Prime Minister Sanna Marin said publicly; Turkey has emphasized that it does not want to hinder or complicate this process in any way, Marin said. The ‘suffle’ started to subside.
The withdrawal message arrived hours later from Istanbul. “We are not closing the door. We are basically raising this issue as a national security issue for Turkey,” said Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Erdogan and his foreign policy adviser. He himself focused on Sweden, where the presence of the “terrorist groups” that Erdogan alluded to “Strong, open and recognised. “What needs to be done is clear: they have to stop allowing PKK establishments, activities, organizations, people and other forms of presence… in those countries,” it added. In short, he has seen the opportunity to take into account his old demands on the Kurds.
Detente with Turkey on the eve of the meeting of the Foreign and Security Policy Committee of the Government and the President of the Republic in Finland. A decisive step for Marin to launch the proposal to parliament for Finland to apply for formal NATO membership, something to be discussed on Monday. In parallel with this process, the meeting of foreign ministers in Berlin will continue. The program features a mid-afternoon performance by Stoltemberg from Brussels – he tested positive for coronavirus three days ago. The head of the Atlantic Alliance is expected to somehow announce the start of the integration process for Finland, while waiting for Sweden to make progress on national permits in the coming days.
The Finnish foreign minister yesterday emphasized once again that he has no doubts that his country will become a full member of the military organization. “It is very likely that in our parliament there will be a strong majority in support of NATO membership and we can submit the application next week,” Haavisto noted. And I assumed it would take at least a year. “We know it will take several months for parliaments and policymakers to reach conclusions.”
Source: La Verdad
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