May 30, 2022
1 min read

No change in Erdogan’s stand on new NATO bids

Last week’s negotiations with Finnish and Swedish delegations in Turkey’s capital Ankara were not at the “expected level”, said Erdogan…reports Asian Lite News

 Turkey will not allow “terrorism-supporting” countries to join the NATO, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, underlining the talks with Sweden and Finland on their intention to join the military alliance have not yielded results.

Last week’s negotiations with Finnish and Swedish delegations in Turkey’s capital Ankara were not at the “expected level”, Erdogan told journalists.

“They have expectations, but they did not take the necessary steps regarding Turkey,” Xinhua news agency quoted the President as saying.

On the contrary, they kept on the activities which Turkey has been criticising, he added.

“As long as Tayyip Erdogan is the head of the Republic of Turkey, we definitely cannot say ‘yes’ to countries, which ‘support terrorism’, entering NATO.”

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO last week following the Russia-Ukraine conflict that erupted in February.

NATO allies, except for Turkey, have welcomed the two countries’ proposals.

Accession of new member states requires consensus among existing NATO members.

Ankara, however, citing the Swedish and Finnish ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and other anti-Turkey groups, objected to their entry into the alliance.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, has been rebelling against the Ankara government for more than three decades.

Turkey also accuses the two countries of harbouring members of the Gulen Movement, which Ankara says is behind a failed military coup attempt in 2016.

Turkey demanded “concrete assurances” from Sweden and Finland for “termination of support” to these groups, and requested the lifting of arms sanctions against Ankara.

A joint Swedish-Finnish delegation held talks in Ankara with Turkish officials and diplomats last week in an attempt to resolve the disputes.

ALSO READ: New Daesh chief arrested in Turkey

Previous Story

‘All you need is your mind and your body’

Next Story

At least 16 bodies retrieved from Nepal plane crash site

Latest from -Top News

Pakistan on the Brink: War, Weakness, Woes

The reason behind growing anxiety and consternation in Islamabad is the depleting reserves of its military’s artillery and ammunition and also a ruined economy…reports Asian Lite News As the tensions between India

UNSC Convenes Over India-Pak Crisis

Pakistan is currently an elected member of the Council and will participate in the meeting….reports Asian Lite News The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will be holding a closed-door meeting on Monday

SYRIA RAIDS: Arab League Slams Israel

The Arab League condemned the airstrikes and called on the international community and the United Nations to confront what it described as “repeated violations committed by Israel against the Syrian state.” The

Singapore’s Ruling Party Achieves Landslide Victory

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, whose party won the election, thanked supporters.,..reports Asian Lite News Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) won 87 of the 97 seats in Parliament in Saturday’s general election,

Jaishankar, Lavrov Discuss Pahalgam Terror Attack

Both the Ministers discussed issues of Russian-Indian cooperation and the aggravation of India-Pakistan relations following the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar spoke to the Russian Foreign Minister
Go toTop

Don't Miss

Sunak calls for new NATO charter

Speaking at the Munich summit, UK PM apprised the gathering

NATO says record number of allies hit defence target

Biden, Harris and Blinken had took strong exception to Trump’s