Turkey prevented the North Atlantic Council from giving the green light to the start of official talks and demanded the delivery of “30 terrorists”.

• war in ukraine The fast track that NATO has prepared for the Scandinavians
• war in ukraine Erdogan’s ‘no’ to Finland and Sweden: “Don’t bother to convince us”

During the last week the heroes were words, but today they are acts. First this Wednesday morning the ambassadors of Sweden and Finland, klaus korhonen You Axel Wernhoff, Official letters were handed over to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg informing his countries of their willingness to join the alliance. The former Norwegian prime minister has greeted him with a “warm welcome”, pointing out that it was “a good day, at a critical moment for our security” and that “the requests are a historic step”. . However, shortly after, Turkey made it clear that according to Alliance sources, it was not only the noise, not theatre, that was preventing the first steps of officially beginning negotiations for accession.

Stoltenberg explained to the media earlier in the day that “the allies will now consider the next steps along the way to NATO. Everyone’s security interests must be taken into account and we are determined to work on all problems and reach quick conclusions.” However, soon after, the Turkish ambassador made it clear at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council thatThose “problems and interests” are far from solved, Ankara said no and therefore could not give a green signal to the diplomatic process, which remains up in the air.

The situation in Turkey is no secret. Today Recep Tayyip Erdogan has given it oral form in front of his country’s parliament. “The expansion of NATO only makes sense to us if our sensitivities are respected, and we are very vulnerable to terrorist attacks on our borders (…) They do not give us terrorists but they enter the alliance. Want? NATO is a unit for security, so we can’t say that there is something that denies that protection,” the Turkish president said in remarks collected by Reuters.

Ankara demands delivery of up to 33 persons from Stockholm and HelsinkiResidents there and affiliated with the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), as well as supporters of Fethullah Gulen, Whom did Erdogan blame for the strange ‘coup’ of 2016?, And taking advantage of his position of strength, he is going to push to achieve what he has not been able to achieve for years.

The Alliance wanted the first steps of this expansion to be quick, to send a message of unity, to show strength against Moscow, but also because the two countries are now in a more vulnerable position, angering the Kremlin but covered by an umbrella. are not of coalition and collective defence. NATO hopes to be able to resolve the first formalities in a week or twoBut if diplomatic pressure from the United States fails to close the issue, that horizon becomes impossible. Stoltenberg said this morning, “Each nation has the right to choose its own path. You both have made your choice through full democratic processes. You are our closest ally and your membership in NATO will enhance our shared security.”

For a candidate to be accepted, consensus is required, that 30 associates ratify the process. But this consensus is also necessary for the first phase, because, unlike what happens in the EU, it is the organization that invites potential partners, not those who request membership by filling out an ‘application’. And Turkey does not even allow the initial stage from which the talks begin.

Erdogan has also criticized his allies, whom he accuses of not sympathizing with or respecting these “sensitivities” or helping to define what they define as “anti-terrorist” conflicts. Turkey has alliance defences, but the situation in the country is more than critical. It was not so long ago that there was open conflict with France. And with its continued friction with Greece, which required all diplomatic tactics last week for airspace violations. The Cyprus question is not mentioned.

Tomorrow, Finnish President Souli Niinisto and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersen will be in Washington to meet with President Joe Biden and study how to lift a Turkish blockade or veto. And today Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevalt Evulu, will meet with foreign minister, Antony Blinken, in New York, so that the White House has both the version and the approach at hand. Next month they will all meet in person in Madrid, at a summit whose importance grows every week.

The press closest to Erdogan these days have published a list of those claimed by Ankara, as well as all the demands, reports financial Times, Among them are “limiting the contact and funding of the PKK and its allies in Syria, as well as the suppression of Stockholm-based media linked to Gülen”, something the Swedish government has rejected on several occasions.