This Tuesday night the leaders of the Atlantic Alliance dined in Madrid with more tranquility. Between glasses of sherry and overwhelmed by the Russian attack on Ukraine, which reached daunting proportions over the weekend with the missile attack on the commercial center of the city of Kremenchuk, the NATO heads of state and government learned that Finland and Sweden will join the military alliance in the coming weeks.
This was possible after Turkey promised to lift its veto on entry, with which it had threatened due to the political asylum that both Nordic countries have granted to activists of the Kurdish separatist group PKK, which Ankara considers terrorist. Entry into NATO must be approved by all member states.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to lift the veto during a meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, as well as with the foreign ministers of the three countries. .
“Our foreign ministers have signed a trilateral memorandum confirming that this week Turkey will support Finland and Sweden’s applications for NATO membership. The concrete steps of this accession will be agreed by the NATO allies during the next two days”, indicates a statement distributed by the Finnish presidency.
At this meeting Ankara “got what it wanted” by lifting the veto on the entry of the two countries, which it accused of tolerating the PKK Kurds, reported the office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Turkey has made significant progress in the fight against terrorist organizations,” and now “got what it wanted,” the note added.
For his part, the secretary general of the military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, said that “NATO is a successful alliance and will be strengthened with these two candidates”, who “are committed to the defense of Turkey”.
“Tomorrow the invitation to join will be made, but there is general agreement that they will be accepted,” Stoltenberg added.
Moscow has said in recent weeks that it rejects the enlargement of NATO and accused the Atlantic Alliance of tightening the military siege of the Russian Federation.
