NATO Secretary General’s visit message to Ankara

Speaking to the press ahead of the NATO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Oslo, the Norwegian capital, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg said: “I met with President Erdogan at the beginning of the This week. I always stress the importance of making progress on Sweden’s accession. I will also go to Ankara in the near future to discuss how we can achieve the possible participation of Sweden.”

“IT HAS BEEN A QUICK ACCEPTANCE PROCESS SO FAR”

Stoltenberg stressed that Turkey and other allies invited Sweden and Finland to become members at the NATO Leaders’ Summit held in Madrid last year.

Stoltenberg said: “We must not forget that all the allies and Turkey invited Sweden to become a full member, and this happened at the last summit in Madrid. So far this has been a very fast admission process because Finland and Sweden applied in May. Finland has already become a member and I am sure Sweden will too. We are working to make this happen as soon as possible. My message is that Swedish membership is good for Sweden, good for the Scandinavian countries, good for the Baltic states and also good for NATO. This will strengthen NATO and it will also be good for Türkiye and all its allies. “I will go to Ankara in the near future, but the date is not clear yet,” he said.