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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

NATO Chief Heads to Ankara as Türkiye Holds up Nordics

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg holds a press conference at the end of a two-day meeting of the alliance's Defense Ministers at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on February 15, 2023. (AFP)

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg conceded Wednesday that Türkiye has blocked efforts to let Finland and Sweden join the world’s biggest security alliance at the same time, and said he is heading to Ankara to discuss the issue with the Turkish president and foreign minister.

Finland and neighboring Sweden abandoned decades of nonalignment and applied to join the 30-nation alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago. All NATO members except Türkiye and Hungary have ratified their accession, but unanimity is required.

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