Turkey carried out its threats on Wednesday and blocked the start of accession talks with Finland and Sweden in the NATO Council.

As diplomats further reported, the other 29 member states spoke out in favor of this step, which is only possible unanimously.

Early in the morning, the ambassadors of Finland and Sweden officially handed over their countries' application for membership to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

"This is a good day at an important moment for our security," said Stoltenberg and was determined to "reach conclusions quickly".

At the same time, he pointed out "that the security interests of all allies must be taken into account."

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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Majid Sattar

Political correspondent for North America based in Washington.

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Only on Sunday, after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, did Stoltenberg claim that Ankara had no intention of blocking the accession process.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of State Annalena Baerbock also downplayed Turkish objections.

Diplomats expressed the expectation that Turkey would only raise its concerns during the ratification process, but would not block the negotiations and the signing of the accession protocols.

In line with this strategy, the Federal Cabinet approved the applications for membership of both countries on Wednesday morning.

A number of other Member States also publicly expressed their support for the admission of Sweden and Finland.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan once again made his approval of Sweden and Finland's accession conditional on security concessions.

For Turkey, NATO expansion goes hand in hand with the respect shown to its sensitivities, he said in a speech to his conservative Islamic ruling party, the AKP, in Ankara.

Sweden and Finland wanted to continue supporting "terrorist organizations", but at the same time Turkey's approval for NATO membership, Erdogan criticized.

"To put it mildly, that's a contradiction." He accused Sweden of refusing to extradite 30 "terrorists".

“NATO is a security association, a security organization.

In this respect, we cannot say yes to making this security body unsafe," said Erdogan.

The conflict should also be the subject of bilateral talks between Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his American counterpart Antony Blinken on Wednesday evening in New York, where they are meeting on the occasion of a ministerial conference on the food crisis.

It was assumed that the conversation would also deal with Turkish arms deals with Washington.

Cavusoglu had demanded that the allies in NATO lift export restrictions against his country.

Ankara is currently trying to purchase 70 F-17 fighter jets and modernize 80 more of the same type.