NATO chief says Madrid summit 'not deadline' to approve Finland & Sweden's membership bids

North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated recently that the military alliance does not see the forthcoming Madrid summit as a deadline to approve Finland and Sweden's membership bids as Turkey's concerns pertaining to the same are being reviewed. Notably, the Madrid summit is scheduled to be held at the end of this month on June 28-30. NATO's chief made these remarks at a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto in Helsinki on Sunday, June 12. "The summit in Madrid was never a deadline. Turkey has raised some concerns and we are working on them. We have frequent, regular contacts with Turkey, and with Finland and Sweden, to look into the issues that Turkey has raised," Stoltenberg remarked, TASS news agency reported. 

Terming Turkey as a crucial ally, the NATO Secretary-General further stated that the Western Asian nation has played a crucial role in the alliance's fight against terrorist outfits such as ISIS and DAESH -- which are banned in Russia. "We also need to take into account that no other NATO ally hosts more refugees than Turkey. We have to remember that what we face is a more dangerous world," he noted. Jens Stoltenberg further claimed that Russia is attempting to re-establish a world system based on spheres of influence, which prompted Finland to bid for membership. 

Turkey's concern 

It should be mentioned here that Turkey had opposed Finland and Sweden's membership bid, accusing them of "hosting terrorist centres in their territories." Turkey's President has Recep Tayyip Erdogan specifically mentioned the presence of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and People's Protection Forces (YPG), which are Turkish and Syrian Kurdish political parties and militia groups, that Ankara considers terrorist organisations in the Nordic countries. He has also accused these Nordic countries of "encouraging terrorism in Turkey" by providing significant financial and military support to PKK, YPG and other groups. 

NATO allies' commitment to defend each other during external attacks

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a 30-member intergovernmental military alliance. The organisation was established in the aftermath of World War II to implement the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed on April 4, 1949. The alliance is a collective security arrangement in which NATO's independent member states commit to defending each other in the event of an external attack. Since the end of the Cold War, the alliance has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa, among other places.

Image: AP