NATO Secretary General: The deadliest disaster for our alliance

On a visit to Turkey, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg held a joint press conference after meeting with Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

Stating that he was in Ankara after the earthquake disaster to deliver solidarity messages to Turkey and Syria, Stoltenberg said: “This is actually the deadliest and most terrible disaster since the establishment of NATO on the territory of our alliance. On behalf of NATO, I would like to convey my deepest and sincere condolences to the Turkish people and to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in this disaster.”

Stating that he applauded the courage of those who carried out the first emergency activities in Turkey, Stoltenberg said: “NATO is here to show solidarity with Turkey in this regard. This week, we observed a minute’s silence at our Committee of Ministers meeting. NATO is with Turkey when you need it.”

Recalling that the day after the earthquake, the NATO Emergency Coordination Center forwarded Turkey’s requests to all NATO allies in this regard, Stoltenberg said that since this stage, thousands of relief and search and rescue teams have emergency have been sent to Turkey by different countries.

THE ACCESS TO NATO OF SWEDEN AND FINLAND IS ALSO ON THE AGENDA

Stating that the solidarity shown by Finland and Sweden after the earthquakes centered on Kahramanmaraş is very important, Stoltenberg said that when asked about the two countries’ NATO membership, his position was that it was time to approve the applications for both countries.

Noting that both countries have taken extremely important steps since the Triple Memorandum signed at the Madrid Summit, Stoltenberg said that Turkey also knows that it has very legitimate security concerns.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated that they welcomed the positive steps taken by Sweden and Finland and said:

“However, it would not be a realistic approach to say that Sweden has fully complied with this MOU or its obligations under it. At the moment, we haven’t seen the concrete steps we want yet. Here they took steps to further tighten the laws, made constitutional amendments. But why did they make this change? They did it especially to prevent terrorist financing, recruitment and terrorist propaganda like in the Ahitname. Now the law has changed, but the same activities continue, the activities of the PKK/YPG. Everything continues with the recruitment of people, the financing of terrorism and the rags of the PKK and the posters of its separatist head”.

Çavuşoğlu thanked Stoltenberg for his solidarity and support during this process. (AA)