Borrell hopes NATO overcomes Turkey objection to Finland, Sweden
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European Union foreign policy chief expresses support for Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO, and hopes the alliance can overcome Turkey's objection.
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The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, hoped that NATO overcomes Turkey's objection to Finland and Sweden's plans to join the alliance.
Borrell admitted Tuesday that Turkey has raised some objections, but said “I hope that NATO will be able to overcome them.”
Before the start of the EU defense ministers' meeting in Brussels, the EU foreign policy chief said that, should they apply to join NATO, Finland and Sweden “will receive strong support, I’m sure, from all member states, because it increases our unity, and it makes us stronger.”
"Guesthouses for terrorist organizations"
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had stressed that Turkey would not say "yes" to Finland and Sweden's NATO membership requests, adding that any attempts to persuade Ankara to modify its attitude would be futile.
Erdogan had previously warned that Turkey would resist the measure, labeling the two Nordic countries "guesthouses for terrorist organizations."
The Turkish president was alluding to the banned separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKP/C).
On May 13, Erdogan expressed Ankara's "pessimism" about Finland and Sweden's plans to join NATO, expressing his desire not to repeat the mistake of including Greece in the alliance.
“These countries do not have a clear unequivocal stance against terrorist organizations. Sweden is the incubation center of terrorist organizations. They bring terrorists to talk in their parliaments," Erdogan considered.
On Sunday, Finland's president and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy completed a report on the country's NATO membership and decided that the country will seek to join the alliance, according to a statement from the Finnish government.
In Sweden, the ruling Social Democratic Party approved the country's candidacy for NATO membership.
