www.zerohedge.com BY TYLER DURDEN
Turkey has issued its “list” of demands that must happen before it would accede to granting formal NATO membership to Scandinavian countries Finland and Sweden. This coming on the same day both countries handed in their formal applications. In a photo op with the Finnish and Swedish ambassadors, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg hailed the “historic moment”.
But given that for days Turkey has voiced vehement denunciation of the move, calling the countries ‘terror safe-havens’ over their alleged support for the outlawed Kurdish PKK (also as Sweden is home to one of the largest Kurdish communities in Europe), Brussels is in for a long-haul of gridlock as there must be consensus among the 30-member states for new entry. Within hours after an application submission ceremony, FT is reporting Turkey has already blocked the planned initial accession talks with Sweden and Finland essential to processing the requests:
Turkey has blocked NATO’s initial decision to process requests by Finland and Sweden to join the military alliance, throwing into doubt the hopes for a quick accession of the two Nordic countries. NATO ambassadors met on Wednesday with the aim of opening accession talks on the same day that Finland and Sweden submitted their applications but Ankara’s opposition stopped any vote, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
