HELSINKI – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday that Turkey has “legitimate concerns” about terrorism and other issues that need to be taken seriously.
Turkey has accused Finland and Sweden of supporting Kurdish militants and says they will not support the two Nordic nations that join NATO until they change their policy.
At a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Stoltenberg emphasized that “no other NATO ally has been hit by more terrorist attacks than Turkey” and pointed to its strategic geographical location with neighbors such as Iraq and Syria.
“These are legitimate fears. This is about terrorism, this is about arms exports,” Stoltenberg said.
He spoke at the president’s summer residence Kultaranta in western Finland.
After decades of military freedom of alliance, Russia’s war in Ukraine forced Finland and Sweden to apply to join NATO in May. However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the Nordic countries of supporting Kurdish militants who are considered terrorists by Turkey and has vetoed their 30-member alliance.
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“When an important key ally like Turkey raises concerns about terrorism, we must of course sit down and take them seriously. And that is exactly what we are doing,” Stoltenberg said.
The demands from Ankara to Helsinki and Stockholm also include lifting restrictions on arms exports to Turkey and extraditing members of certain Kurdish organizations opposed to Erdogan’s government.
In recent weeks, the head of NATO has tried to resolve the dispute, but he did not reveal on Sunday if any progress has been made.
Later on Sunday, he would participate in an annual discussion panel in Kultaranta together with Finnish and Nordic politicians, foreign and security policy experts and military representatives.
Stoltenberg will visit Sweden on Monday for talks with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.
Source: sn.dk