US urges Turkey to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership ‘expeditiously’

Washington [US]March 18 (ANI): After Turkey ratified the process of ratifying Finland’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the United States welcomed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision, prompting the United States to offer Turkey a “Sweden It also encourages the rapid ratification of its accession protocol.” In a statement issued by the White House, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said, “The United States welcomes President Erdogan’s announcement that he will submit Finland’s NATO accession protocol to the Turkish parliament, and that the process will proceed expeditiously. We look forward to completing it in due course.” We encourage Turkey to ratify Sweden’s accession protocol expeditiously, and we urge Hungary to complete the ratification process of both Finland and Sweden without delay,” he added.

In the statement, Sullivan further said that Sweden and Finland are strong and capable partners sharing NATO values, strengthening the alliance and contributing to European security.

“The United States believes that both countries should become members of NATO as soon as possible,” the statement said.

Earlier, Turkey approved the process of ratifying Finland’s NATO membership.

Erdogan said at a joint press conference in Ankara with Finland’s Sauli Niinisto that Finland had addressed all of Turkey’s security concerns, according to the Anadolu Agency.

“We have decided in parliament to start the approval process for Finland’s NATO accession protocol,” Erdogan said at a press conference, citing negotiations on the Swedish-Finnish accession bid at the NATO Madrid summit in June 2022. Erdogan said Turkiye was among them, a strong defender of NATO’s open-door policy.

The president added that Turkey sees Finland taking concrete steps to deliver on its commitments in a tripartite memorandum of understanding signed at the Madrid summit last June, according to the Anadolu Agency. .

“I believe that with Finland’s membership NATO will become stronger and play an active role in maintaining global security and stability,” Erdogan added.

He further stressed that after the approval process is completed, Turkey-Finland relations will be strengthened on the basis of the NATO alliance.

Regarding the Swedish process, Erdogan said Turkey will continue consultations based on the principles of alliance and our approach to the fight against terrorism.

“I believe that our principles and goodwill in advancing the (NATO accession) process are now more clearly demonstrated,” he added. (Ani)