Turkey is waiting for a "
written response
" from Sweden and Finland before lifting its objections to their NATO membership, the Turkish Foreign Minister announced on Wednesday 15 June.
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“
We have sent our written requests to these two countries.
(...) We are now awaiting their written response
,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters.
Without detailing these requests, the Minister clarified that they did not concern only "
a change in the laws
" of the two Nordic countries, in reference to Sweden which announced its intention to strengthen its legislation concerning the fight against terrorism.
“
This response can be in the form of a law or otherwise
,” added Mevlut Cavusoglu.
NATO is 'working hard'
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also reiterated this Wednesday before the parliamentarians of his party, the AKP, that "
concerning NATO, as long as Sweden and Finland do not adopt concrete measures on the fight against terrorism, our position will not change
”.
Ankara accuses the two countries of harboring militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), classified as "
terrorist
" by Turkey and its Western allies.
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Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin called on Tuesday June 14 for an agreement to be reached with Ankara before the Atlantic Alliance summit at the end of June, under penalty of seeing the membership of her country and Sweden "
frozen
".
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assured Monday, June 13 in Sweden that NATO is “
working hard
” to solve the “
legitimate
” problems raised by Turkey.
“Jens
Stoltenberg always sincerely expresses his views and makes efforts to address Turkey's concerns.
We appreciate his efforts
,” noted Mevlut Cavusoglu.