By Agnes Szucs
BRUSSELS (AA) – The US expects its “important allies” Türkiye and Greece to overcome their differences through constructive dialogue, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.
“Greece and Turkey are both vital, important allies, friends of the United States,” Blinken said about the recent tension between Türkiye and Greece, responding to a question at a news conference following his meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
“We’d like to see them resolve these differences in a constructive way, through dialogue as they've done so in the past,” he explained.
According to Blinken, NATO allies should focus all of their “attention and resources as necessary in supporting Ukraine” because Russia’s aggression against the country is a “fundamental challenge” that “matters to every single ally, many countries well beyond the Alliance, well beyond the Transatlantic area.”
For his part, Stoltenberg also asserted that Greece and Türkiye are “highly valued members” of NATO and they should solve their differences by “diplomatic means,” including NATO’s de-confliction mechanism.
He also showed confidence that the ratification process of Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO accession will conclude soon, as already 24 national parliaments approved their membership.
“I also think it's important to recognize that we have to take the security concerns of all allies seriously,” he underlined, adding that “no other ally has suffered more terror attacks" than Türkiye.
Stoltenberg also recalled that as part of the NATO leaders’ deal in June about the two countries’ membership process, there was a trilateral agreement among Finland, Sweden, and Türkiye "to strengthen cooperation.”