Flags of NATO member countries at the organization's headquarters in Brussels. File photoANKARA, Jun 8Turkey cannot be positive about applications for NATO membership submitted by countries that do not want to take a clear position in the fight against terrorist organizations, the admission of such countries to the alliance threatens its security, said Fahrettin Altun, head of the Turkish Presidential Administration's Liaison Office. Sweden and Finland they started talking about the possibility of joining the North Atlantic Alliance against the backdrop of a Russian special operation in Ukraine, but Turkey blocked the process of considering the application. The President of the Republic, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that he vetoed it because of the position of Stockholm and Helsinki regarding the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey. According to Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, the settlement of differences may take several weeks. «Turkey cannot accept positively applications for NATO membership submitted by countries that do not want to take a clear position in the fight against terrorist organizations. Such a position is also a threat to the future of the North Atlantic Alliance «, — Altun is quoted by the Anadolu agency. He added that the geopolitical processes of the recent period have demonstrated the value of Turkey as a NATO ally.» The situation in Ukraine and the subsequent processes have shown that the NATO bloc is very quickly involved in geopolitical confrontation. concerns about security within NATO,» Altun stated. Russia claims that NATO is aimed at confrontation. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that further expansion of the alliance would not bring greater security to Europe. At the same time, he noted that he does not consider the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO an existential threat to Russia. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin is sure that abandoning Finland's traditional policy of military neutrality would be erroneous, since there are no threats to its security.
NATO exercises to be held in Turkey
