U.S. 'Remains Confident' Of Swift Accession Of Sweden and Finland to NATO, Amid Ankara Talks

A group of more than 80 U.S. Senators on Tuesday expressed their commitment to expedite the approval of Finland and Sweden's NATO membership applications, and called on the Biden Administration to do the same in the executive branch, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

In a letter to Biden sent Tuesday, the Senators, led by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Thom Tillis, the co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, also said they gave their "full support for the United States to provide mutual security assurances to the governments of Sweden and Finland."

The move came as Swedish and Finnish delegations were headed to Ankara Tuesday night to meet with Turkish officials today to discuss their NATO bid.

Turkey has made a series of security-related demands of Sweden prior to the talks about its opposition to their becoming NATO members.

Back in Washington, the State Department is 'hesitant' to weigh in today's talks, explaining that "this is not a bilateral issue between the U.S. and Turkey; this is currently an issue between Turkey and our Swedish and Finnish partners," as spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday in response to TURAN's question.

"I will only add that in following our engagements with our Swedish Finnish partners and engagements with our Turkish allies as well, we do remain confident that "we'll be able to maintain and preserve a strong consensus within the NATO alliance for swift accession of Sweden and Finland." Price said at his daily press briefing.

After decades of neutrality, both Finland and Sweden recently decided to join NATO, aiming to fortify their defenses against Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. But approval of their bids requires the unanimous consent of current NATO members, while Turkey has voiced strong objections.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.