Turkey has abandoned its opposition to Finland and Sweden becoming members of NATO, paving the way for the Nordic countries to join the alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The three countries have signed a joint memorandum after hours of talks on Tuesday negotiated by NATO, ending a six-week veto of Ankara related to terrorist concerns.
The agreement on the eve of the annual NATO summit in Madrid puts an end to a dispute that threatened to overshadow an event seen as a show of unity against Russia, support for Ukraine and the “strategic concept” of 10 years of the alliance designed to renew its approach to defending its Eastern Europe. allies.
“Our foreign ministers signed a trilateral memorandum confirming that Turkey will support the Madrid summit this week at the invitation of Finland and Sweden to become members of NATO,” the president of Finland, Sauli Niinistö. “The concrete steps of our accession to NATO will be agreed by NATO allies over the next two days, but that decision is now imminent.”
A Turkish official said the Nordic countries had agreed not to support Kurdish militias in Syria that Ankara considers terrorists, a move President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will proclaim as a political victory in Turkey ahead of the election. will be held before June next year. The official said they had also agreed to stop support for the Gülen movement, an Islamic sect that Turkey accuses of orchestrating a violent coup attempt in 2016.
Last-minute talks between Niinistö, Erdogan, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg focused on finding an agreement to calm Turkey’s concerns that the Nordic countries were too soft with extremist groups.
“Our joint memorandum underscores Finland, Sweden and Turkey’s commitment to extend their full support against threats to the security of others. By becoming NATO allies we will further strengthen this commitment,” Niinistö said.
Stoltenberg said the deal “addresses Turkey’s concerns, including arms exports and the fight against terrorism.”
Turkey’s foreign ministry said Sweden’s deputy foreign minister Robert Rydberg will travel to Ankara on Wednesday for “comprehensive” talks.
In statements before the meeting, Erdoğan warned that he wanted to see results, not “empty conversations”, during his meeting with his Swedish and Finnish counterparts.
Finland and Sweden asked to join the alliance in May in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a process that NATO officials said would likely be approved in weeks.
But Turkey – in NATO since 1952 – effectively vetoed its bids, alleging that the Nordic countries had not been harsh enough with groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militia that has fought. against the Turkish state for decades and is designated as a terrorist organization by the US and the EU.
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Ankara has also opposed its support for a Syrian Kurdish militia with close ties to the PKK that has served as the backbone of the US-led campaign against Isis.
Erdoğan spoke by phone with Joe Biden before leaving for Madrid and was also expected to hold a face-to-face meeting with the President of the United States on the sidelines of the summit.
In a statement on Tuesday, Biden praised the agreement between Turkey, Finland and Sweden and said it paves the way for NATO powers to invite the Nordic couple to join the alliance at the Madrid summit in this week.
“Their membership will strengthen NATO’s collective security and benefit the entire transatlantic alliance. I look forward to working with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, our allies, and with Congress to make sure we can welcome them to our alliance quickly, ”he said.
Some Western officials believe the Turkish leader has tried to instrumentalize the issue of NATO membership in Sweden and Finland to secure Washington’s commitments, especially in connection with Ankara’s push to buy new F-16 fighter jets. manufactured in the United States, as well as modernization equipment for existing aircraft. .
Although the Biden administration has expressed support for the sale, U.S. officials point out that it is the U.S. Congress that must sign the agreement and argue that Turkey’s strong objections to Sweden’s admissions and Finland has not helped its already skeptical Capitol Hill case.
Erdogan said Tuesday that Ankara wanted to move faster in its F-16 application and accused the U.S. of “stalled tactics.”