Berlin, May 17: Luxembourg's foreign minister says he doesn't believe Turkey will prevent Sweden and Finland from joining NATO, despite the Turkish president's stated objections.
All 30 current NATO members, among them Turkey, must agree to let the Nordic neighbours join. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said they failed to take a "clear" stance against Kurdish militants and other groups that Ankara considers terrorists, and imposed military sanctions on Turkey.
However, Luxembourg's long-serving Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told Germany's Deutschlandfunk radio on Tuesday that he suspects Erdogan is merely "pushing up the price" for the two countries' membership. He said: "At the end of the day, I am convinced that Turkey can't slam the brakes on this."
Asselborn added that "this will take some time, I hope not too long."
He pointed to Turkey's removal in 2019 from the U.S.-led F35 stealth fighter jet programme and the possibility of Ankara getting F-16 fighter jets from the U.S.
