NATO expects Turkey not to hold up Finland, Sweden membership

By Trend

NATO and the United States said on Sunday they were confident Turkey would not hold up membership of Finland and Sweden in the Western military alliance, Trend reports citing Reuters.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto confirmed on Sunday that his country would apply to join NATO, while Sweden's ruling Social Democrats announced an official policy change that would pave the way for their country to apply within days.

"Today the Swedish Social Democratic Party took a historic decision to say yes to apply for a membership in the NATO defence alliance," tweeted Sweden's foreign minister, Ann Linde.

"I'm confident that we will be able to address the concerns that Turkey has expressed in a way that doesn't delay the membership," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declined to go into details of closed-door conversations in Berlin but echoed Stoltenberg's position.

"I'm very confident that we will reach consensus on that," Blinken told reporters, adding that NATO was "a place for dialogue".