In talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the blockade of the NATO admission process for Sweden and Finland, French head of state Emmanuel Macron envisaged a quick solution to the conflict.
After the approximately one-hour phone call on Thursday, the Parisian Élysée Palace announced that Macron had expressed his wish that the talks could continue in order to find an early solution. Accordingly, Macron emphasized how important it was to respect the sovereign decision of the two northerners.
Erdogan made it clear to Macron that Finland and Sweden support terrorist organizations from Turkey’s point of view and that this is not compatible with NATO’s spirit of alliance, the President’s Office in Ankara said.
As a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Finland and Sweden want to join the western military alliance. Turkey is currently the only NATO member to publicly block the start of the admission process for the two Nordic countries.
Ankara justifies its position with the alleged support of Finland and Sweden for “terrorist organizations”, referring to the banned Kurdish PKK, the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG and the Gülen movement. Finnish and Swedish delegations held talks with Turkish representatives in Turkey on Wednesday.
