Jens Stoltenberg was blindsided by Ankara’s objections to Sweden and Finland joining the military bloc
NATO had no reason to believe there would be any problems with the membership applications of Sweden and Finland, alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday, admitting he was blindsided by “legitimate” Turkish concerns. He still wants Stockholm and Helsinki to join as soon as possible.
“Earlier in the process, we had no reasons to believe there would be any problems,” Stoltenberg told Financial Times on Monday, while visiting Sweden. Back in April, NATO had promised Sweden and Finland that the first stage of their accession would take only a couple of weeks, only to run into Turkish objections as Ankara accused both countries of supporting terrorism.
“The Turkish concerns are not new,” Stoltenberg added, calling Turkey “an important ally, and when an ally raises security concerns, we have to address them.”
“These…