“Now is the time” to integrate Sweden and Finland, says the head of the Atlantic Alliance

Soon two new member countries of NATO? The head of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, called Thursday, February 16 in Ankara for the immediate integration of Finland and Sweden, whose candidacies for NATO have been blocked since May by Turkey. Istanbul accuses Sweden, among other things, of harboring Kurdish militants and sympathizers whom it describes as “terrorists”in particular those of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The Secretary General of NATO is visiting Ankara to demonstrate the Alliance’s support after the devastating earthquakes of February 6 which killed more than 36,000 people in the country. He had publicly raised for the first time on Tuesday the possibility of Finland joining the Alliance before Sweden.

The leaders of NATO’s 30 member countries took the decision to invite Sweden and Finland to join the Alliance at a summit in Madrid in July 2022. Thirty countries signed the accession protocols and 28 the have ratified. Only Turkey and Hungary have not yet done so.