NATO chief says the time has come to welcome Sweden, Finland into alliance

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this week that the time has come to welcome Sweden and Finland into the alliance. Stoltenberg added that the two countries had fulfilled the demands that Turkey has set for them to be accepted.

In a joint news conference with Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu Thursday, Stoltenberg said Sweden and Finland had fulfilled Ankara’s demands for them to be accepted. Stoltenberg said the time has come for the two countries to be welcomed under the alliance. Turkey and Hungary are the remaining two countries that have yet to ratify Finland and Sweden’s accession into NATO.

“It’s time to welcome Finland and Sweden as full members of NATO,” said Stoltenberg. “In these dangerous times, it is even more important to finalize their accession, to prevent any misunderstanding or miscalculation in Moscow.”

Turkey has opposed the accession of the two countries into the alliance as Ankara has accused them of harboring groups it considers terrorists.

In the news conference, Cavusoglu said that the two countries have not yet fulfilled all of Ankara’s demands for their accession to be approved and that they must still take concrete steps. Cavusoglu also said that Sweden’s new government, under its new Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, is taking a decisive approach to fulfill all the obligations stipulated by Ankara.

Finland and Sweden signed a memorandum in June that allowed Turkey to lift its veto of the membership bids of the two countries to join the alliance. Sweden and Finland jointly applied for membership into the alliance as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine back in February.

Turkey demanded guarantees from the two countries, which included that they would not provide refuge to Kurdish militants.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin urged Turkey and Hungary on Tuesday to approve their membership bids as soon as possible, adding that Finland and Sweden will join the alliance together in a united front.

“All eyes now are on Hungary and Turkey. We are waiting for these countries to ratify our applications. I think it would be important for this to happen preferably sooner than later,” said Marin in a news conference with other Nordic leaders.