Turkey is bidding for Sweden and Finland to join NATO

Turkish officials expected to respond on prospects Finland and Sweden on the NATO membership in negotiations in Brussels on Sunday, the foreign minister said Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Turkey sent written demands to Finland and Sweden last month, but Cavusoglu said the response letters from NATO and Stockholm “far fell short of our expectations.”

Speaking at a press conference in Zagreb, Cavusoglu stressed that Turkish Presidential Spokesman Tayyip Erdogan Kahbrahim Kalvinwho is his chief foreign policy adviser, and Deputy Foreign Minister Ibrahim Kalin, his chief foreign policy adviser, as well as Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal, will travel to Brussels on Sunday for talks.

“They sent a document that could be signed trilaterally. We considered these documents inadequate and sent our own document in response. We said that negotiations could be continued through this,” Cavusoglu said, adding, “Sedat Onal and Ibrahim Kalin will go to Brussels on Sunday evening and will work with NATO on this document, but we remind NATO and all parties of our determination on this matter.”

Alliance leaders to meet in Madrid June 29-30to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the nominations of Finland and Sweden. Ankara said it does not see the summit as a deadline and that progress will only be made when its problems are resolved.

Any new NATO membership requires unanimous approval all 30 members of the alliance, for now. Turkey has been a NATO ally for 70 years and has the alliance’s second largest army, which, from the US point of view, is a very significant factor.

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