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Finland, Sweden to join NATO soon, they have fulfilled obligation

February 16, 2023, 2:38 pm

<p>NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg</p>

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg

BRUSSELS – Finland and Sweden are to join NATO by the fall as they have fulfilled all Ankara’s demands. However, their accession protocols have not been ratified by Hungary and Turkey yet, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference on Wednesday following the meeting of NATO defense ministers.

"Both Sweden and Finland have now fulfilled their obligations in the Joint Trilateral Memorandum they signed with Turkey in July (during the NATO summit in Madrid in 2022 - TASS). So I urged Turkey to ratify both Finland and Sweden together already last fall," he said.

"That is my position. That’s what has not changed," he said adding that Sweden and Finland would become NATO members soon.

"Twenty-eight allies have already ratified both protocols, and then Hungary and Turkey have not. And it is for Turkey to decide whether they ratify both, and I recommended that, or whether they ratify one of the two documents," Stoltenberg said.

"I will also actually travel to Turkey tomorrow, and that will be one of the issues I’ll certainly address," he added. (Anadolu)

 

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