US says it supports Turkey’s EU membership

The White House National Security Council (NSC) said the United States has always supported Turkey on its path to European Union membership, but urged that this process be differentiated from Sweden’s entry into NATO. This was reported to journalists by a representative of the US National Security Council.

Former Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declaredthat Turkey needs to open the way to the EU, in return Ankara will unblock Sweden’s way to NATO. “I want to address the countries that have been holding us back on our way to the EU for 50 years. Open the way for Turkey to the European Union. And we will open the way to Sweden [в НАТО], as they did for Finland before,” he stressed before flying to Vilnius for the NATO summit. He added that almost all countries of the alliance are members of the union.

“The United States has always supported Turkey’s aspirations for EU membership and continues to do so. Turkey’s membership application and process [ее рассмотрения] This is a matter between the EU and Turkey. Our focus is on Sweden, which is ready to join NATO.” declared the official representative of the National Security Service, commenting on the words of Erdogan (quote from TASS).

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted that he supports Ankara’s membership in the EU. However, in his opinion, Sweden has already fulfilled the conditions necessary for joining NATO. He admitted that a “positive decision” on this issue could be made in Vilnius, where the alliance’s summit will be held, writes Reuters. The representative of the European Commission noted that the enlargement of NATO and the EU were “separate processes”. According to him, “the accession process for each candidate country is based on the merits of each country.” He also added the two processes cannot be linked, the agency said.

Sweden, along with Finland, applied for NATO membership four months after the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine in February 2022. In April, Helsinki officially became the 31st member of the military bloc. At the same time, Ankara still opposes Sweden’s entry into the alliance, as it believes that Stockholm supports terrorists, including activists of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK, recognized by Ankara as terrorist). According to the charter of the organization, the consent of all its members is required for the admission of new states to NATO.