FM Çavuşoğlu: Turkey open to talking with Finland and Sweden over NATO bid
On Finland and Sweden's NATO membership bids, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stressed in his comments: "Turkey is open to talking with Finland and Sweden over the NATO membership issue." But the top diplomat added that Ankara's stance is clear: "Those countries should not support the PKK/YPG terrorist group."
- World
- Agencies and A News
- Published Date: 08:17 | 14 May 2022
- Modified Date: 08:57 | 14 May 2022
Turkey voiced readiness Saturday to discuss Finland and Sweden's plans to join NATO, despite accusing them of habouring "terrorist organisations".
Finland and Sweden should stop supporting the PKK/YPG terrorist organization, Turkey's foreign minister said in his comments as the two Scandinavian countries mull entering NATO.
In a doorstep statement ahead of an informal NATO foreign ministers' meeting, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Turkey has always backed NATO's open-door policy.
"A big majority of the Turkish people are against the membership of those countries who are supporting PKK terrorist organization ... but these are the issues that we need to talk of course with our NATO allies as well as these countries," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in a statement while arriving for talks in Berlin with NATO counterparts as well as Finland and Sweden.
"The problem is that these two countries are openly supporting and engaging with PKK and YPG. These are terrorist organisations that have been attacking our troops every day," Çavuşoğlu said in a statement.
"Therefore it is unacceptable and outrageous that our friends and allies are supporting this terrorist organisation, These are the issues that we need to talk about with our NATO allies as well as these countries Sweden and Finland," the Turkish top diplomat added.
Waging a terrorist campaign against the Turkish state for nearly four decades, the bloody-minded PKK has been designated a terrorist organisation in the UK, European Union and the United States.
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