No one should expect discounts from us. This is what Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today in connection with Sweden’s candidacy for NATO membership. The information is from the Turkish television CNN-Turk, quoted by BTA.
Erdogan spoke to journalists at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul before departing for Vilnius. There he will participate in a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christershon. It was convened by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, on the occasion of Sweden’s candidacy for membership in the pact. The meeting will take place on the eve of the high-level meeting of NATO countries in Vilnius.
The Turkish leader stressed today that Ankara has always supported NATO’s “open door” course. At the same time, in order to speed up the Stockholm process for NATO membership, it is necessary to fulfill all the provisions of the trilateral memorandum (between Turkey, Sweden and Finland), Erdogan said.
The President of Turkey linked the issue related to Stockholm’s NATO candidacy to the negotiations for Turkey’s accession to the European Union.
First open the way for Turkey to join the EU, and then we will “clear the way” for Sweden’s (NATO) candidacy, just as we did in the case of Finland, Erdoğan said, quoted by Anadolu Agency.
Turkey has been waiting for 50 years to join the EU, the Turkish president added.
