Türkiye rules out quitting NATO

The spokesman for the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party Omer Celik has said that Türkiye will not consider ending its NATO membership despite provocations.

Earlier, the deputy chairman of Türkiye's Motherland Party, Ethem Sanjak, said that Ankara would leave the alliance in five to six months because of NATO provocations, CNN Turk reports.

"We come across things like this in every election [calls to exclude Türkiye from NATO]. This is not the kind of thing we would worry about. The words of those who talk about the need to exclude Türkiye from NATO are unreasonable. This is out of the question. We are one of the founding countries of NATO. They have no right to talk about it," he told CNN Turk.

Celik also recalled Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's remarks claiming that Stockholm had fulfilled all of Ankara's conditions for joining NATO.

"Türkiye confirms that we have done what we promised, but it also says it wants what we cannot or will not give," Kristersson said at the time.

"There is no progress in the negotiations and Sweden itself is to blame for this, as it could not keep any promises. In this context, there is no point in the trilateral mechanism. Finland has allowed accession to NATO without Sweden," Celik noted.

Earlier on January 25, the deputy chairman of Türkiye's Motherland Party, Ethem Sancak, said at least 80 per cent of Turkish citizens believe that "the US is the country with the most hostile policies" and that the Turkish people "have become sympathetic to Russia".