Blinken urges Turkey to immediately approve Sweden's NATO accession
Last edited Tue May 30, 2023, 06:45 PM - Edit history (2)
Source: Reuters
LULEA, Sweden/WASHINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday urged Turkey to immediately finalize Sweden's accession to NATO, saying the Nordic country had already taken significant steps to address Ankara's objections to its membership.
Blinken also rejected the suggestion that the Biden administration was linking Turkey's approval of Sweden's NATO accession to the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara, although he said the U.S. Congress was doing so. A day before, the U.S. president also alluded to a link.
Speaking at a joint press conference with the Swedish prime minister in Lulea, northern Sweden, Blinken said Washington was going to continue to work to complete Sweden's accession in time for a mid-July NATO summit that will bring together alliance heads of state.
"We believe the time is now and there's no reason for not moving forward," Blinken said. "Turkey has raised important and legitimate concerns. Sweden and Finland both addressed those concerns." "We look forward to this process being completed in the weeks ahead. We have no doubt that it can be, and it should be and we expect it to be," he said.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-diplomat-blinken-says-time-is-now-swedens-accession-nato-2023-05-30/
Article updated.
Original article -
Blinken also rejected the suggestion that the Biden administration was linking Turkey's approval of Sweden's NATO accession to the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara, although he said the U.S. Congress was. A day before, the U.S. President also alluded to a link.
Speaking at a joint press conference with the Swedish Prime Minister in Lulea, northern Sweden, Blinken said Washington was going to continue to work to complete Sweden's accession in time for a mid-July NATO summit that will bring together alliance heads of state.
"We believe the time is now and there's no reason for not moving forward," Blinken said. "Turkiye has raised important and legitimate concerns. Sweden and Finland both addressed those concerns." "We look forward to this process being completed in the weeks ahead. We have no doubt that it can be, and it should be and we expect it to be," he said.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Had both articles up side by side and hit the wrong one for a link copy. 
I had both articles up and added the wrong link. 
Fixed!
