Turkey’s Defence Minister Hulusi Akar shared points of view on the Russia-Ukraine War that has been ongoing for ten months and emphasized how Turkey “supports NATO’s open-door policy” during a year-end briefing in Ankara yesterday, 24 December 2022.
The minister conceded that despite Ankara’s repeated efforts to arrange peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow, “this war will not end easily” and “is likely to continue in 2023,”reported The Bangkok Post.
In addition, he called on Sweden and Finland to meet Turkey’s security demands in return for Ankara’s consent for their NATO bid as Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO members yet to approve the Nordic neighbors’ applications.
“We are not against Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership,” Akar added.
However, “we expect them to cut ties with terrorists,” as back in 2016, Sweden’s refusal to extradite a journalist Ankara implicated has sparked anger.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2468172/turkey-says-ukraine-war-will-not-end-easily
