Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoganassured that the sending of tanks to Ukraine by the West will not solve the war and that it will only “stuff the pockets” of the arms producers.
Asked in an interview on the Turkish public channel TRT Worldthe president of Turkey has indicated that sending tanks and weapons “does not solve the problem”, which is why he called for promoting talks between Ukraine and Russia to reach “a lasting peace”.
The Turkish president’s words come weeks after Germany agreed to allow third countries to send tanks Leopard 2 –of German manufacture– to Ukraine, in addition to announcing that it would send 14 of these tanks to kyiv. Following Germany’s decision, the United States announced the shipment of its Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Erdogan said that the country “expects sincere steps from Sweden in the fight against Islamophobia” after Danish-Swedish extremist Rasmus Paludan burned copies of the Koran in front of the Turkish embassy in Sweden.
“Despite the warnings, Sweden has turned a blind eye to the burning of the Koran and the Police protected the perpetrators. Hate crimes against Muslims are not acceptable,” the Turkish president remarked, adding that “Sweden’s apologies will not solve the problems.”
Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in May, a decision prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Nevertheless, the two Nordic countries need the unanimous approval of the member states of the Atlantic Alliance.
Until now, Turkey has blocked the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO, alleging that it alleges a lack of cooperation from both countries when resolving extraditions of members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered by Ankara as an organization terrorist.
Thus, the Turkish government has accused Sweden and Finland of breaching the agreement signed on the sidelines of the NATO summit held in Madrid at the end of June.
Because of this, the Finnish Foreign Minister recently said that his country should consider the option of joining the NATO without Sweden.
“We have to assess the situation, whether something has happened that in the long term prevents Sweden from moving forward,” said the foreign minister, Pekka Haavistoto the station Yle.
However, he added that it was “too early to take a position on this now” and that a joint application was still the “first option”.
For your part. the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tobias Billstromstated that he was “in contact with Finland to find out what this really means”.
(With information from Europa Press)
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Source-www.infobae.com