Humeyra, John Irish, and Essi Lahto

BERLIN/HELSINKI /Reuters – NATO and USA said Sunday that Turkish fears would not prevent Finland and Sweden from joining the Western military alliance to respond to Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.

Finland’s president Sauli Niinisto has confirmed that Finland will apply for the alliance. Sweden, however, is likely to quickly follow in his footsteps, moves that anger Russia.

Turkey’s statement that it has reservations over Swedish and Finnish membership had shocked its allies. The Turkish government laid out its demands during a Berlin foreign ministers meeting on Sunday. Ankara demanded that the countries stop supporting Kurdish militants groups who are present on Turkish territory and remove bans on arms sales to Turkey.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that he was confident that the NATO will address Turkey’s concerns in a manner that does not delay membership.

Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary Of State, declined to discuss details of Berlin-closed conversations but agreed with Stoltenberg.

Blinken said that “I am very confident that there will be consensus on that”, adding that NATO was “a space for dialogue.”

Tayyip Erdogan surprised his allies on Friday when he said that Turkey still had reservations about joining the Nordic pairs.

Turkey’s demand was reaffirmed by Mevlut Cavusoglu on Sunday. The Foreign Minister said that talks between the Swedish and Finnish counterparts had been beneficial. Both countries made suggestions about how to answer Ankara’s worries, and Turkey would accept them, even though he provided evidence that terrorists are present on Turkey’s territory.

He referred to Sweden as a particular target, stating that the Kurdish terrorist group, the PKK (banned by USA and EU) had met in Stockholm this weekend.

He said that Turkey was not opposed to the policy of openness to any European nation who wishes to apply for membership.

All 30 NATO allies must approve any decision regarding NATO enlargement. NATO diplomats indicated that Ankara is a NATO member of 70 years. The alliance believes the Baltic Sea accession would vastly improve its strength.

Calm and Cool

The ruling Social Democrats in Sweden were ready to support the country’s membership of NATO on Sunday, opening the door for an application which would end generations of non-alignment.

The February 24th invasion by Russia of Ukraine has changed Helsinki’s security calculations. Both countries were neutral during the Cold War and remained neutral in the aftermath. Moscow is threatening to retaliate against the prospects of both countries joining NATO, with unspecified “military technical measures”

Niinisto said Saturday that he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the conversation was a measured one.

He confirmed it was a mistake. We’re not trying to threaten you. In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Niinisto stated that the entire discussion was calm and peaceful.