Emmanuel Thomas I Monday, July 08, 2023
VILNIUS, Lithuania – Just a few hours to the summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO in Lithuania, President of Turkey, Tayyip Recep Erdogan has made new demands for him to support Sweden NATO membership bid.
Erdogan, who spoke with reporters before leaving for Lithuania said Turkiye membership of the EU has been on hold for over 50 years, adding that he will make it a condition for support of NATO members bid of Sweden.
“Türkiye has for over 50 years been kept waiting at the door of the European Union. Besides, today, nearly all of the NATO-member countries are at the same time a member of the EU.
“I hereby call on the countries that make Türkiye keep waiting at the door of the EU for over 50 years, will make the same call again in Vilnius: First clear the path to the EU in front of Türkiye and then we will clear the path in front of Sweden, just as we did for Finland.”
Erdogan said he already made this point clear to President Joe Biden of the U.S. during a phone call last night.
“Türkiye has always supported the open door policy of NATO, adding that having acted in line with its commitments, Finland became an official member of the Alliance in April.
“The process concerning Sweden, on the other hand, still continues. Our relevant institutions maintain their talks with their Swedish counterparts with a transparent and well-intentioned approach.”
He said Turkey will review the decision it took at the NATO summit in Madrid.
“We will review the decisions we took at the Madrid Summit to strengthen the deterrence and defense structure of the Alliance as well as to support the partners, Ukraine in particular.
“We will hold on this occasion the first meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council formed as a sign of NATO and its alliances’ support for Ukraine. We believe that the immediate termination of the war with a just and lasting peace will further facilitate Ukraine’s NATO membership process.”
“We will review in Vilnius the works carried out to carry NATO’s efforts in combatting terrorism to a new stage. Another important outcome of the Summit will be the renewal of the commitment of the minimum 2 per cent of the defense spending.
“On one hand we see that the increasing of the defense spending is discussed, brakes are applied with limitations on the other. The limitations and obstacles imposed unjustly by some of our allies restrict us. Our country, which saw nearly 2 per cent in defense spending in 2019, has regressed to some 1.30 per cent in this field. I will reiterate our call to our allies, which impose sanctions and limitations against Türkiye, to immediately rectify this mistake of theirs.”
