Ukraine (bbabo.net), - If Sweden and Finland wish to join NATO, they "should take appropriate steps, in particular, Sweden must take these steps." Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said this at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Ankara, Anadolu news agency reports today, February 16.

According to him, the latest provocations of the Swedish radicals, which included the burning of the Koran, were unsuccessful.

“But Turkey always supports the strengthening of NATO. Turkey is one of the countries that contributes the most to NATO. To further strengthen NATO, Turkey, as an important ally, will continue to support the activities of the alliance. As you know, we are among the five countries that contribute the most to the activities and missions of NATO. We are also one of the eight countries that contribute the most to the overall budget of the alliance,” Cavusoglu said.

An exchange of views took place on the implementation of obligations under the trilateral memorandum signed by Turkey, Finland and Sweden on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid in June 2022, the head of Turkish diplomacy informed.

“We expect the two Scandinavian states to fulfill these promises, not in words, but in deeds. It would be wrong to say that Sweden and Finland have not fulfilled their obligations at all. However, we do not see the steps that we expect from these countries,” the minister stressed.

Finland is ready to join NATO without Sweden, the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported on February 7, citing government sources. According to the interlocutors of the publication, Turkey agreed to Finland's entry into the North Atlantic Alliance at the end of 2022. At the same time, one of the sources drew attention to the fact that "the geopolitical position of Sweden is very different from the Finnish one, since Finland directly borders on Russia."

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