Flags of Finland, NATO and Sweden. File photoANKARA, Jun 21NATO cannot overcome the problems with the entry of Sweden and Finland into the alliance on the eve of the summit in Madrid, progress was not achieved at the trilateral talks in Brussels, the Sözçü newspaper writes on Tuesday. applications to join the alliance. Turkey has blocked the start of the process of consideration of these applications. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara cannot say «yes» to Finland and Sweden's membership in NATO, as it cannot believe their assurances about relations with representatives of the PKK, banned in Turkey.
Finland noted progress in NATO talks with Turkey «Despite attempts to overcome problems ahead of the traditional NATO summit to be held in Madrid next week, the alliance has not yet been able to make any progress in these negotiations (on Sweden and Finland). In an interview with Al-Monitor, some sources said that the Turkish delegation did not retreat from their positions.The sources said that Ankara set a condition for these countries to stop cooperation with the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey.On the other hand, it was also stated that that the emphasis was placed on the fight against the terrorist organization FETÖ (this is how the organization of the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen is called in Turkey, whom Ankara accuses of attempting a coup) and cooperation with these two countries was proposed,» the newspaper writes. «It was also stated that Ibrahim Kalin , the head of the Turkish delegation, does not see the NATO summit in Madrid as a deadline, a source told Al-Monitor with reported that the Turkish authorities did not present a clear membership perspective and it is likely that the result will not be achieved in Madrid. It was expected that Sweden and Finland would attend the summit and that the membership of these two countries would be ratified by 30 countries. no more.What is and what will be?
