Turkey: Sweden, Finland must alleviate security concerns

Turkey's foreign minister on Friday said Sweden and Finland must now take "concrete steps" to alleviate Turkey's security concerns to overcome its objection to their NATO bid. Speaking with his Polish and Romanian counterparts in Istanbul, Mevlut Cavusoglu said the Nordic delegations had gone back to their capitals with Turkey's demands and documents following a meeting on Wednesday. Turkey is now awaiting their answers, the minister said.

Sweden and Finland have made a historic request to join NATO in response to Russia's war against Ukraine. Turkey is opposing their bid, which needs a unanimous vote from all NATO countries, citing alleged support for Kurdish militants that Turkey considers terrorists and restrictions on weapons sales to Turkey.

"An approach of 'we'll convince Turkey in time anyway, we are friends and allies' would not be correct…these countries need to take concrete steps," the Turkish foreign minister warned.

Poland's foreign minister Zbigniew Rau said: "There is no doubt that we do need the accession of Sweden and Finland to the NATO alliance in order to make it stronger." Romania's foreign minister, Bogdan Aurescu, agreed, saying their membership would "consolidate the collective defense and our security."

However Cavusoglu said while Turkey understood " Finland and Sweden's security concerns", NATO allies also needed "to understand Turkey's legitimate security concerns," adding that Turkey wanted NATO to include combatting terror in its 'Strategic Concepts'. Turkey has the second-largest army in NATO.