Ankara (EFE).- The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, today expressed his condolences and the Alliance’s solidarity with Turkey in the face of the earthquakes ten days ago, which have left at least 36,000 dead in this country.
“This is the deadliest natural disaster on Alliance territory since the founding of NATO,” said the Norwegian politician during a press conference in Ankara with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu.
Stoltenberg offered, on behalf of the Alliance, his deepest condolences to the Turkish people, and referred to the “courage” of the emergency teams involved in the rescue efforts of the victims.
“In this moment of need, NATO is with Turkey,” said the secretary general, who recalled that the day after the tremors, the organization’s disaster response center launched a request for help for Turkey to all members of the Alliance.
“Since then, thousands of emergency personnel have been deployed in Turkey to support relief efforts. Among them, search and rescue teams, firefighters, medical personnel and seismic experts,” he said.
He also recalled that military planes from areas such as the Netherlands, Norway or the United States are participating “day and night” in sending aid to Turkey and in medical evacuations.
Stoltenberg said the Alliance is erecting temporary shelters for the thousands of people who have been evacuated from the devastated regions and is using its airlift capabilities to set up tens of thousands of tents.
“Across NATO, ordinary citizens are raising millions of euros in support of Turkey. This is true and deep solidarity,” she assured.
He also thanked the help of Sweden and Finland, which are waiting for Turkey to lift its veto on joining the Alliance.
“In particular, I thank Sweden for its initiative to hold an international donor conference in March,” he said.
Stoltenberg will travel today to the region affected by the earthquakes where, he said, he will greet the NATO personnel who are collaborating on the ground with the Turkish authorities.
NATO prioritizes the prompt entry of Sweden and Finland over doing so together
Stoltenberg also said that a quick entry of Finland and Sweden into the Alliance is more important than the fact that they do it together, in relation to Turkey’s position to keep the Swedish candidacy blocked.
“My position is that both can ratify now, but the main issue is not whether they ratify together, but that Sweden and Finland are ratified as soon as possible,” Stoltenberg said during the press conference with Çavusoglu.
The NATO Secretary General affirmed that the two Scandinavian democracies have taken great steps to meet the demands raised by Turkey last July in a memorandum signed by the three countries.
Thus, he recalled that they have withdrawn the restrictions on arms exports to Turkey and have strengthened their anti-terrorist policies.
Turkey considers that the two countries, especially Sweden, give refuge to people and organizations that it considers terrorists, and demands extraditions of those accused by the Turkish Justice.
Stoltenberg said that Turkey has “legitimate security concerns” and that no other country has suffered more terrorist attacks, so that issue is an important part of the deal struck between the three countries in July.
The Turkish government is especially opposed to the entry of Sweden, especially since a Swedish-Danish ultra-rightist burned a copy of the Koran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on January 21.
The Secretary General insisted that “the time for ratification has come”, but insisted that it is a decision to be taken by the Turkish Government and Parliament.
For his part, Cavosuglu insisted that Turkey’s position is that “Finland’s candidacy process can be evaluated separately from Sweden’s,” and that this issue could be discussed at Stoltenberg’s meeting today with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. .
Cavosuglu acknowledged that the two countries “have taken some steps” but said that it would not be correct to say that Sweden “has fulfilled all its obligations”, and denounced that there are Kurdish groups in that country, considered terrorists by Ankara, who “continue with their activities ”.
In addition, he said that the burning of the Koran is “a hate crime and against humanity” that violates international law.
“We always say that we don’t have big problems with Finland. We are not against enlargement. We want NATO to become stronger and our work will continue, ”she stated.