A few hours before the start of the Crunch NATO Summit in the Spanish capital tomorrow (Wednesday), the three countries signed a memorandum of understanding in Madrid. Both Sweden and Finland formally applied for NATO membership in May. This is about three months after Russia launched a brutal war in Ukraine on February 24th.
NATO Secretary-General Jason Stoltenberg said Vladimir Putin is now “getting more NATO at his border.”
As a bystander at the NATO Summit, he said: “I am pleased to announce that Finland and Sweden have signed an agreement to pave the way for NATO.
“Turkey, Finland and Sweden have signed a memorandum of understanding to address Turkey’s concerns, such as arms exports and the war on terror.”
Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö said in a statement:
“As a result of that meeting, our Foreign Minister has signed a trilateral memorandum confirming that Turkey supports Finland and Sweden’s invitation to become a member of NATO at the Madrid Summit this week.”
The Finnish statement also emphasizes “Our Joint Memorandum of Understanding is the commitment of Finland, Sweden and Turkey to expand their full support for each other’s security threats. We will become NATO’s allies. So this commitment will be further strengthened.
“Turkey has expressed concern about the threat of terrorism in the past few weeks. Finland has always taken these concerns seriously.
“Finland condemns terrorism in all its forms and signs. As a NATO member, Finland will be fully committed to NATO’s anti-terrorism documents and policies.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also tweeted his joy about the latest significant developments.
He writes: “Great news when starting the NATO summit.
“Sweden and Finland membership will make our wonderful alliance stronger and safer.”
Turkey, Sweden and Finland spent most of Tuesday preparing a joint memorandum to address Turkey’s concerns about the two Nordic countries that are members of NATO.
This was brought with the leaders of the three countries who attended a long meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, a bystander on the first day of the NATO summit.
Over the past few weeks, NATO applications from Sweden and Finland have faced fierce opposition from the Turkish government, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Citing concerns about national support for Kurdish groups and arms exports, national leadership was fiercely opposed to the move.
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