Turkey agrees to support NATO membership for Finland and Sweden

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Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said on Tuesday that Turkey has agreed to support Finland and Sweden's NATO membership bids, removing a major hurdle to the two countries joining the alliance. Niinistö said in a statement that a joint memorandum on the matter was signed by Turkey, Finland and Sweden on Tuesday in Madrid ahead of what is shaping up to be a critical summit. The joint memorandum underscores the commitment of Finland, Sweden and Turkey "to extend their full support against threats to each other's security," Niinistö said.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said he is "confident" that Finland and Sweden will be able to successfully join NATO after the signing of the trilateral memorandum of understanding. "I'm pleased to announce that we now have an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO. Turkey, Finland and Sweden have signed a memorandum that addresses Turkey's concerns, including around arms exports, and the fight against terrorism," Stoltenberg said, speaking to journalists in Madrid following the signing of the memorandum. On Wednesday, allied leaders will then decide whether to invite Finland and Sweden to join NATO, he said, adding that after this decision a ratification process will need to take place in all NATO capitals.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/28/politics ... index.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Turkey agrees to support NATO membership for Finland and Sweden

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That must have been a lucrative deal for Erdogan. Political animals just don’t let that kind of veto power go without some “pound of “flesh” as payment.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: Turkey agrees to support NATO membership for Finland and Sweden

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Nah, we're all pawns of the US MIC right here in your other country. :lol:

Seen the point made elsewhere that Finland and Sweden can make all sorts of promises in order to get approved - how they play out in practice is another thing entire. Look at Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus. There's some good alliance stuff right there.

As far as the hardware goes, I've also read a fair bit about how Swedish jets like Gripen make much more sense for Ukraine than, say, the F-35 or A-10. Lots of Scandinavian hardware getting field tested right now. The US doesn't have enough gear stockpiled for our own conflicts, we're clearing out old stock with our donations, and the ammunition logistics in Donbas are driving home the dire, dire state of our own. The western militaries have been buying ammo as-you-go, just-in-time style, picking up small amounts of the latest and greatest - while Russia sits on massive stockpiles of Cold War milsurp and has been loading up for the zombie apocalypse. Leaves lots of sudden demand with low supply - Sweden and Finland have their own MICs to feed, and export partners to fatten the larder.

I miss the old days of neutrality too, but it wasn't exactly the moral high ground of the last world war.

Re: Turkey agrees to support NATO membership for Finland and Sweden

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Both have already been working with NATO, so it's not a big leap. Erdoğan only got some of what he wanted, mostly on the PKK, already recognized by all as a terrorist group. (for those who know nothing about Turkish, I believe it's pronounced "Er-doe-won" where "won" rhymes with "on", not "bun"--due to the "ğ")
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Turkey agrees to support NATO membership for Finland and Sweden

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Finland and Sweden on Tuesday moved a step closer to becoming full members of NATO with the formal signing of their accession agreement with the military alliance. Their upcoming NATO memberships have been closely followed as it marks a major shift in not only their security policies, but the overall defense architecture in Europe. Both countries had adopted a neutral stance toward Russia for most of their recent history, but the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine propeled them to take a new direction.

“Finland and Sweden will make strong and important contributions to our Alliance. Our forces are interoperable. They have trained, exercised, and served together for many years,” Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general said Tuesday following the signatures.
According to Stoltenberg, this has been the “fastest accession process in NATO’s history so far.” Both nations requested to join the alliance in May. There is now one final step before their memberships are active: the ratification of the accession agreement by all the NATO nations. It is unclear how long that will take as different countries have different procedures to ratify the agreement, but Stoltenberg said this would be a question of “months.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/05/finland ... rship.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Turkey agrees to support NATO membership for Finland and Sweden

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Canada has become the first country to ratify Sweden's and Finland's requests to join NATO, bringing the two countries closer to full membership. The Prime Minister's Office says Justin Trudeau met with Finland's president, Sauli Niinistö, and Sweden's prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, at the NATO summit last week. In a statement, Trudeau said Canada champions the alliance's open door policy for any European country in a position to "advance the commitments and obligations of membership."

The Finnish and Swedish ambassadors submitted official letters of application to NATO on May 18, and Canada's federal cabinet issued orders-in-council on May 26 authorizing the foreign affairs minister to ratify accession protocols for both countries. The House of Commons also voted unanimously this spring to support the membership bids.
All 30 NATO allies signed off on the accession protocols for Sweden and Finland on Tuesday, sending the membership bids to the alliance countries for legislative approval. Canada deliberately issued the orders-in-council on May 26 to speed through the ratification process and get it done within hours instead of the usual months.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/nato-finl ... -1.6510575

It's moving quickly.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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