The thirty member countries of NATO will launch the process of ratification for the accessions of Sweden and Finland, Tuesday, July 5, announces the Alliance in a press release (in English). “We are preparing to welcome two new allies with formidable forces and military capabilities”underlined its secretary general, the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, during a ceremony for the entry into office of the new supreme commander of the allied forces in Europe (Saceur), the American general Christopher Cavoli.
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde and her Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto took part in the final discussions on Monday at the organization’s headquarters in Brussels, before this signature which will formally launch the membership procedure.
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Turkey gave its agreement at the summit of NATO leaders in Madrid, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reminded the two Nordic countries of the conditions to be met. In particular, he mentioned a “promise made by Sweden” concerning the extradition of “73 terrorists”with reference to the memorandum concluded by the leaders of the three countries. “They will send them back, they promised. It is in written documents. They will keep their promise”he assured, without further details.
Ankara has been calling for several years in Stockholm for the extradition of Kurdish activists and people close to the movement founded by the preacher Fethullah Gülen, accused by the Turkish authorities of having fomented the coup attempt of July 2016. “If they fulfill their duty, we will submit [le mémorandum] to the “Turkish Parliament” for adoption, but “if they don’t, it’s out of the question for us to send it to Parliament…”he warned at a press conference.
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Sweden and Finland are members of the European Union, but the agreement signed in Madrid “only engages these three countries”Nabila Massrali, spokesperson for the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, recalled on Monday. “Anti-terrorism legislation is a sovereign right of States, but it must respect the rules and fundamental rights”, she said. “Turkey has a broad interpretation of its anti-terrorism legislation and it takes the opportunity to arrest all those who speak out critically, journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders.”