[228] Shortly after West Germany's accession to NATO, the parties agreed to the Austrian State Treaty in May 1955, which was largely based on the Moscow Memorandum signed the previous month between Austria and the Soviet Union. [60] A 2006 study in the journal Security Studies argued that the NATO enlargements in 1999 and 2004 contributed to democratic consolidation in Central and Eastern Europe. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is an international military alliance that consists of 31 member states from Europe and North America.It was established at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. [145][146] NATO leadership and the United States have said they were confident Turkey would not hold up the two countries' accession process. [275], The current Prime Minister of Moldova, Dorin Recean, supports European Union membership, but not NATO membership. Austria joined NATO's Partnership for Peace in 1995, and participates in NATO's Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. Macedonia was part of the Vilnius Group, and had formed the Adriatic Charter with Croatia and Albania in 2003 to better coordinate NATO accession. [102], The biggest step in the formalization of the process for inviting new members came at the 1999 Washington summit when the Membership Action Plan (MAP) mechanism was approved as a stage for the current members to regularly review the formal applications of aspiring members. Originally invited to join the MAP in April 2010 under the condition that no Annual National Programme would be launched until one of the conditions for the. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! When Soviet leaders found it necessary to use military force to put down revolts in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968, for example, they presented the action as being carried out by the Warsaw Pact rather than by the USSR alone. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg answers reporter's questions during a press statement prior to the meeting of the 'Ukraine Defense Contact Group' at Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein, Germany . President Bill Clinton predicted in 1995 that the first . Victory by the Republican Party, who advocated for aggressive expansion, in the 1994 US congressional election helped sway US policy in favor of wider full-membership enlargement, which the US ultimately pursued in the following years. Kauranen A., Gray A. What is the EU, and how is it set up? The NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 against Bosnia-Serbian forces and the NATO bombing of targets in Serbia (then part of FR Yugoslavia) during the Kosovo War in 1999 resulted in strained relations between Serbia and NATO. And nations that were once under the Soviet boot now sought to join NATO. [14] Though staunchly anti-communist, Franco reportedly feared in 1955 that a Spanish application for NATO membership might be vetoed by its members at the time. "[188] He was quoted as saying that if NATO accepts Georgian membership with the article on collective defense covering only Tbilisi-administered territory (i.e., excluding the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both of which are currently an unrecognized breakaway republics supported by Russia), "we will not start a war, but such conduct will undermine our relations with NATO and with countries who are eager to enter the alliance. This lineup remained constant until the Cold War ended with the dismantling of all the Communist governments in Eastern Europe in 1989 and 1990. at the Alliance's Madrid Summit in 1997 and on 12 March 1999 they became the first former members of the Warsaw Pact to join . Any treaty concerning Cyprus' participation in NATO would likely be blocked by Turkey because of the Cyprus dispute. States acceding to NATO replace Partnership for Peace membership with formal entry into the Alliance. This brought another change in direction of Ukraine's association with Europe and by extension NATO. [140] Bosnian chances of joining NATO may depend on Serbia's attitude towards the alliance, since the leadership of Republika Srpska might be reluctant to go against Serbian interests. A country's participation in MAP entails the annual presentation of reports concerning its progress on five different measures:[103], NATO provides feedback as well as technical advice to each country and evaluates its progress on an individual basis. [54] Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic officially joined NATO in March 1999. It was believed that some NATO members, including the United Kingdom, were opposed to Maltese NATO membership. [156], Russia's military actions in Ukraine, first in 2014 and later in 2022, have caused most major political parties in Sweden to at least re-evaluate their positions on NATO membership, and many moved to support Swedish membership. [134], The conditions of the MAP, however, stipulated that no Annual National Programme[clarification needed] could be launched until 63 military facilities are transferred from Bosnia's political divisions to the central government, which is one of the conditions for the OHR closure. It was established in 1955 in response to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). [304] In March 2019, US President Donald Trump made Brazil a major non-NATO ally, and expressed support for the eventual ascension of Brazil into NATO. NATO continued its existence beyond the Cold War era and gained new member nations in Eastern Europe during the late 1990s. [169], The ruling Swedish Social Democratic Party, however, had remained in favor of neutrality and non-alignment for many years,[170] but following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the party debated the issue internally in April 2022,[171] and announced on 15 May 2022 that they would now support an application to join the organization. "[24][34][38], This view, that informal assurances were given by diplomats from NATO members to the Soviet Union in 1990, is common in countries like Russia,[26][21] and, according to political scientist Marc Trachtenberg, available evidence suggests that allegations made since then by Russian leadership about the existence of such assurances "were by no means baseless. [157] The center-right Moderate Party and center-left Liberal Party have both generally supported NATO membership since the end of the Cold War, with the Moderates even making it their top election pledge in 2022. [27][28] The North Atlantic Treaty is the basis of the organization, and, as such, any changes including new membership requires ratification by all current signers of the treaty. First, only European states are eligible for new membership, and second, these states not only need the approval of all the existing member states, but every member state can put some criteria forward that have to be attained. [179] Turkey later agreed, on 28 June 2022, to support Sweden's membership bid. Between 1952 and 1965, the headquarters of the Allied Forces Mediterranean was based in the town of Floriana, just outside Malta's capital of Valletta. [39][38] This impression was later used by him as part of his justification for Russia's 2014 actions in Ukraine and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022. [123], A February 2017 poll showed that 59% of the country supports NATO membership, but results were very divided depending on ethnic groups. [41] There was further debate during the Presidency of Bill Clinton between a rapid offer of full membership to several select countries versus a slower, more limited membership to a wide range of states over a longer time span. In 1990, the negotiators reached an agreement that a reunified Germany would be in NATO under West Germany's existing membership. [305] France's Foreign Ministry responded to this by reiterating the limitations of Article 10 on new membership, and suggested that Brazil could instead seek to become a Global Partner of NATO, like Colombia. Democrats are somewhat more likely than Republicans to say the influence of a few key U.S. allies (such as France, Germany, NATO and the EU) is growing. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. [6] Joining the alliance is a debate topic in several other European countries outside the alliance, including Austria, Cyprus, Ireland, Malta, Moldova, and Serbia. [41] By mid-1992, a consensus emerged within the administration that NATO enlargement was a wise realpolitik measure to strengthen Euro-American hegemony. [59][57] Russian troops had been stationed in Baltic states as late as 1995,[60] but the goals of European integration and NATO membership were very attractive for the Baltic states. The country's current constitution was adopted in 1994, and forbids the country from joining a military alliance, but some politicians, such as former Moldovan Minister of Defence Vitalie Marinua, have suggested joining NATO as part of a larger European integration. [113] While their neighbors both requested and accepted the dialog program, Serbia's offer was presented to guarantee the possibility of future ties with the alliance.[114]. Gorbachev Says "No", "Moscow's account of Nato expansion is a case of false memory syndrome", "NATO Eastward Expansion and Russian Security", "Chechnya Summons Uneasy Memories in Former East Bloc", "Poland, Hungary and the Czechs Join NATO", "Why Nato-Russia relations soured before Ukraine", "Slovenia Votes for Membership in European Union and NATO", "Intermarium: The Case for Security Pact of the Countries between the Baltic and Black Seas", "The Breakaways: A Retrospective on the Baltic Road to NATO", "Tensions With Russia Propel Baltic States Toward NATO", "No Smoking Law, Alcohol Limit-Yes, Referendum-No", "Slovenia Border Spat Imperils Croatia's NATO Bid", "Slovenia Ratifies Croatia's Accession in NATO", "Montenegro Hands over Application for NATO's MAP", "Montenegro Joins NATO Membership Action Plan", "Development of relations between Montenegro and NATO key dates", "NATO invites Montenegro to join alliance, defying Russia", "NATO formally invites Montenegro as 29th member", "Montenegro becomes NATO's 29th member amid bitter opposition from Moscow", "NATO invites Macedonia to begin membership talks, says it can join once name issue is resolved", "Formal Accession Talks with Skopje begin at NATO Headquarters", "Macedonia signs Nato accession agreement", "NATO door open to North Macedonia after Spain's approval", "North Macedonia Parliament Backs NATO Accession", "North Macedonia joins NATO as 30th Ally", "North Macedonia Joins the NATO Alliance", "Finnish President: Putin's mask comes off, showing "cold face of war", "Yle poll: Support for Nato membership hits record high", "PM Marin: Finland's Nato membership decision needs more time", "Finnish president confirms country will apply to join NATO", "Sweden and Finland formally apply to join Nato", "Finland becomes a Member of NATO on Tuesday 4 April", "Finland joins NATO in historic shift, Russia threatens 'counter-measures'", "NATO: What Is A Membership Action Plan? The three Visegrad countries were duly invited to join Nato at the 1997 Madrid Summit, joining in 1999. But NATO expands anyway - so first in the '90s with a few countries in central Europe, again in the 2000s to bring in even more countries further to the east, including a handful of former Soviet . It was primarily a security pact, with Article 5 stating that a military attack against any of the signatories would be considered an attack against them all. The final agreement signed by Russia and the west in September 1990 applied only to Germany. [259] Kosovo's lack of recognition by four NATO member statesGreece, Romania, Spain, and Slovakiacould impede its accession. Published in September 1995, the study outlined the "how and why" of possible enlargement in Europe,[97] highlighting three principles from the 1949 treaty for members to have: "democracy, individual liberty, and rule of law". Finland joined the Partnership for Peace in 1994, and provided peacekeeping forces to both NATO's Kosovo and Afghanistan missions in the early 2000s. Mintoff supported neutrality as his foreign policy,[269] and the position was later enshrined into the country's constitution in 1974 as an amendment to Article 1. Russia has 'threatened counter measure' by increasing the announced placement of nuclear weapons in Belarus. Over the course of the 1990s and early 2000s, NATO expanded three times: first to add the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland; then seven more countries even farther east, including the former . The Pact, essentially a political-military alliance, was viewed as a direct strategic counterweight to NATO, and its focus at the time was the fact that while East Germany was still part of the . After discussing the issue with West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on February 24-25, the U.S. gave the former East Germany "special military status," limiting what NATO forces could be . [57] Slovenia had held a referendum on NATO the previous year, with 66% approving of membership. [17][18] A Spanish referendum in 1986 confirmed popular support for remaining in NATO. Russia, led by President Boris Yeltsin, became the most prominent of the independent states. The alliance provided a mechanism for the Soviets to exercise even tighter control over the other Communist states in Eastern Europe and deter pact members from seeking greater autonomy. [70][71] NATO formally invited Montenegro to join the alliance on 2 December 2015,[72] with negotiations concluding in May 2016;[73] Montenegro joined NATO on 5 June 2017. [166][167] A Novus poll conducted in late February 2022 found 41% in favor of NATO membership and 35% opposed. Article 5 of the treaty states that if an armed attack occurs against one of the member states, it shall be considered an attack against all members, and other members . 2) Act, 1974", "Two in three Maltese strongly support neutrality survey", "75% of Maltese want greater EU military cooperation after Ukraine invasion", "Moldova and NATO: Expansion Stops at the Dniester River? ", Spohr, Kristina. [278] Moldova's President Maia Sandu stated in January 2023 that there was "serious discussion" about joining "a larger alliance", though she didn't specifically name NATO. The next member states to join NATO were Montenegro on 5 June 2017, and North Macedonia on 27 March 2020. [198], The 2010 election returned Viktor Yanukovych to the presidency and marked a turnaround in Ukraine's relations with NATO. The USSR oversaw the installation of pro-Soviet governments in many of the areas it had taken from the Nazis during the war. [223], Russia, Armenia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan are all members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a post-Soviet alternative military alliance. Its original members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal . Since re-joining, Malta has been building its relations with NATO and getting involved in wider projects including the PfP Planning and Review Process and the NATO Science for Peace and Security Program. Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Enlargement_of_NATO&oldid=1152325818, Enlargement of intergovernmental organizations, Events affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia extended-confirmed-protected pages, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2022, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from March 2022, Articles containing potentially dated statements from October 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2023, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Willingness to settle international, ethnic or external territorial disputes by peaceful means, commitment to the rule of law and human rights, and democratic control of armed forces, Ability to contribute to the organization's defense and missions, Devotion of sufficient resources to armed forces to be able to meet the commitments of membership, Security of sensitive information, and safeguards ensuring it, Compatibility of domestic legislation with NATO cooperation, Goldgeier, James. [174] Andersson announced Sweden would indeed apply for NATO membership on 16 May 2022, in coordination with neighboring Finland,[175] and a formal application was submitted on 18 May 2022,[144] despite Russian threats of "military and political consequences. The alignment of nearly every European nation into one of the two opposing camps formalized the political division of the European continent that had taken place since World War II (1939-45). [49] Hungary's interest in joining was confirmed by a November 1997 referendum that returned 85.3% in favor of membership. ", "Poll: More Irish want to join NATO in wake of Ukraine invasion", "Neutrality or NATO? NATO would defend these countries if they were threatened or attacked. Wawrzyk stressed that Poland supports Ukraine's accession to both NATO and the EU. The Centre Party, for example, was officially opposed to NATO membership until September 2015, when party leadership under Annie Lf announced that they would motion to change the party policy to push for Sweden to join NATO at their next party conference. Ireland continued their policy of military neutrality during the Cold War, and after it ended, joined NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) program and Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) in 1999. Little more than one week later, on 14 May 1955, the Soviet Union formed the Warsaw Pact, which included the German Democratic Republic (also known as East Germany). [296][297][298], Some individuals have proposed expanding NATO outside of Europe, although doing so would require amending Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which specifically limits new membership to "any other European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area. [143], The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine led to Finland and Sweden applying for membership on 18 May 2022. [124] Turkey is thought to be the biggest supporter of Bosnian membership, and heavily influenced the decision. There have been several debates about whether . The treaty puts limits on the number of deployed intercontinental-range nuclear weapons that both the US and Russia can have. ", The West's Response to Perestroika and Post-Soviet Russia, "Russia's belief in Nato 'betrayal' and why it matters today", "Mikhail Gorbachev: I am against all walls", "Memorandum of conversation between Baker, Shevardnadze and Gorbachev", "The Myth of a No-NATO-Enlargement Pledge to Russia", "Did NATO Promise Not to Enlarge? All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. [299] In 2007, then-US presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani suggested including Singapore and Israel, among others. Nato's first aggressive action against a sovereign state took place in 1999, when it bombed targets in Yugoslavia in an attempt to halt that country's policy of "ethnic cleansing" in Kosovo. [308] Because of its close ties to Europe, Cape Verde has been suggested as a future member and the government of Cape Verde suggested an interest in joining as recently as 2019. It was more directly inspired by the rearming of West Germany and its admission into NATO in 1955. [30][31], By August 1993, Polish President Lech Wasa was actively campaigning for his country to join NATO, at which time Yeltsin reportedly told him that Russia did not perceive its membership in NATO as a threat to his country. NATOUkraine Action Plan adopted on 22 November 2002. NATO was formed in 1949 with twelve founding members and has added new members nine times. The Government of the United States of America will inform each of the Parties of the deposit of each such instrument of accession. Joining the USSR in the alliance were Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Poland and Romania. [184] In May 2013, Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili stated that his goal was to get a Membership Action Plan (MAP) for his country from NATO in 2014. [151], In 1949, Sweden chose not to join NATO and declared a security policy aiming for non-alignment in peace and neutrality in war. First published on Fri 21 Apr 2023 06.53 EDT. [107] All seven invitees joined in March 2004, which was observed at a flag-raising ceremony on 2 April. [258] In December 2018, Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj stated that Kosovo will apply for NATO membership after the formation of the Kosovo Armed Forces. In the aftermath of World War I and World War II, Soviet leaders felt very apprehensive about Germany once again becoming a military powera concern that was shared by many European nations on both sides of the Cold War divide. In 1947, U.S. leaders introduced the Marshall Plan, a diplomatic initiative that provided aid to friendly nations to help them rebuild their war-damaged infrastructures and economies. As part of an effort to assuage concerned groups, newly installed Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk addressed the topic in a speech on 18 March 2014, emphasizing that Ukraine was not seeking NATO membership. [95], Article 10 poses two general limits to non-member states. That month, a poll indicated 33% of Swiss supported NATO membership for Switzerland, and 56% supported increased ties with NATO. NATO enlargement was the subject of lively debate in the early 1990s. Romania is a current member of both NATO and the European Union.[281]. [211] Previous polls had shown that the decline in opposition to membership was linked to the ongoing Russian intervention. [232] According to a survey in May 2022 by the Austria Press Agency, only 14% of Austrians surveyed supported joining NATO, while 75% were opposed.[233]. [217] In April 2021, following a Russian troop buildup near the Ukraine border, Zelenskyy repeated this request in a call with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, saying that "NATO is the only way to end the war in Donbas" and that entry into the MAP "will be a real signal for Russia."[218]. Did you know? [6] On 3 March 2022, a resolution was passed by Kosovo's Parliament requesting that the government "take all necessary steps to join NATO, European Union, Council of Europe and other international organizations". NATO formed the backbone of the West's military bulwark against the USSR and its allies for the next 40 years, with its membership growing larger over the course of the Cold War era. After months of delays, it signed off on Finland's bid to join in March. The European Union is an international economic and political alliance of 27 member countries, 19 of which use the euro as their official currency. [236][237] The winner of Cyprus' presidential election in February 2013, Nicos Anastasiades, stated that he intended to apply for membership in the PfP program soon after taking over. Austria only joined in 1995, together with two Nordic countries that had also declared their neutrality in the Cold War (Sweden and Finland). [133], The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina within Bosnia and Herzegovina has expressed willingness to join NATO, however, it faces consistent political pressure from Republika Srpska, the other political entity in the country, alongside its partners in Russia. [276] Following the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia, NATO officials warned that Russia might seek to annex Transnistria, a breakaway Moldovan region. Stoltenberg himself said that . [10] France, however, delayed the start of the process, in part on the condition that a referendum be held in Saar on its future status, and a revised treaty was signed on 23 October 1954, allowing the North Atlantic Council to formally invite West Germany. Like NATO, the Warsaw Pact focused on the objective of creating a coordinated defense among its member nations in order to deter an enemy attack. [5] Kosovo also aspires to join NATO. [153] These ideological divides were visible in November 2006 when Sweden could either buy two new transport planes or join NATO's plane pool, and in December 2006, when Sweden was invited to join the NATO Response Force. To appease the Soviets, it also granted the territory a "special military status" that . [43] In 1996, Clinton called for former Warsaw Pact countries and post-Soviet republics to join NATO, and made NATO enlargement a part of his foreign policy. Yeltsin however retracted this informal declaration the following month,[32] writing that expansion "would violate the spirit of the treaty on the final settlement" which "precludes the option of expanding the NATO zone into the East. Unhappy with its role in the organization, France opted to withdraw from military participation in NATO in 1966 and did not return until 1995. [142] On 2 March 2022, Vjosa Osmani, the President of Kosovo, called on NATO to speed up the membership process for Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. [302] In June 2018, Qatar expressed its wish to join NATO,[303] but their application was rejected by NATO. The allies also dismissed Soviet proposals of a neutral-but-united Germany as insincere. As such, opposition to Soviet-style communism became a defining characteristic of the organization and the anti-communist governments of Greece, which had just fought a civil war against a pro-communist army, and Turkey, whose newly-elected Democrat Party were staunchly pro-American, came under internal and external pressure to join the alliance, which both did in February 1952. [112] Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia similarly received offers at the April 2008 Bucharest summit. He said the issue of Ukrainian membership of NATO might "emerge at some point, but we will not see it in the immediate future". By the mid-1960s, the ECSC merged with two . [29] The Westernization trend of many former Soviet allied states led them to privatize their economies and formalize their relationships with NATO countries, the first step for many towards European integration and possible NATO membership. [65] Slovenia did ratify Croatia's accession protocol in February 2009,[66] before Croatia and Albania both officially joined NATO just before the 2009 StrasbourgKehl summit, with little opposition from Russia. [199] He later reiterated during a trip to Moscow that Ukraine would remain a "European, non-aligned state". [306], Several other current NATO Global Partners have been proposed as candidates for full membership. [307] In 2020, Trump stated that Middle Eastern countries should be admitted to NATO. Since then, NATO has led the Implementation Force and Stabilization Force, and other peacekeeping efforts in the country. "[299], Christopher Sands of the Hudson Institute proposed Mexican membership of NATO in order to enhance NATO cooperation with Mexico and develop a "North American pillar" for regional security,[300] while Christopher Skaluba and Gabriela Doyle of the Atlantic Council promoted the idea as way to support democracy in Latin America. [274], Moldova gained independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. On 21 November 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev while addressing soldiers in Vladikavkaz near the Georgian border stated that Russia's 2008 invasion had prevented any further NATO enlargement into the former Soviet sphere. The 'NATO enlargement question' in the triangular Bonn-Washington-Moscow diplomacy of 19901991. "NATO Enlargement and the Problem of Value Complexity. The Warsaw Pact was put in place as a consequence of the rearming of West Germany inside NATO.Soviet leaders, like many European leaders on both sides of . The accession process is overseen by the North Atlantic Council, NATO's governing body. NATO invited North Macedonia to begin membership talks on 11 July 2018;[77] formal accession talks began on 18 October 2018. [219] Since the invasion, calls for NATO membership for Ukraine have escalated across both Ukraine and NATO countries. [224] In 2000, Russian President Vladimir Putin floated the idea of Russia potentially joining NATO. The first President of the independent Republic of Cyprus (19601977), Archbishop of Cyprus Makarios III, adopted a policy of non-alignment and took part in the 1961 founding meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade. Its roots date back to 1952, when six countries founded the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) to boost economic growth and ease post-World War II tensions. The move was widely supported by the people of the . [185] In June 2014, diplomats from NATO suggested that while a MAP was unlikely, a package of "reinforced cooperation" agreements was a possible compromise. Irish attitudes to neutrality and possible NATO membership", "Hoxhaj: Pas antarit vzhgues n Asamblen Parlamentare t NATO-s, Kosova edhe me ushtri", "Kosovo seeks to join international organisations", "Hoxhaj n Mitrovic, Kosova antarsohet n NATO para 2022", "Kosovo PM: "After approving army, Kosovo will apply for NATO", "Kosovo parliament urges government to start NATO membership bid", "Cabinet minutes: Borg Olivier considered closing down NATO base", "NATO Headache Seen In Malta Application", "Act. At the 2008 Bucharest summit, Greece blocked a proposed invitation because it believed that its neighbor's constitutional name implies territorial aspirations toward its own region of Greek Macedonia. [144] The move met opposition from Turkey, which called for the Nordic countries to lift their non-existing arms sales ban on Turkey and to stop any support for groups which Turkey and others have labeled as terrorists, including the Kurdish militant groups Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) (that Sweden banned in 1984) and Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) and Democratic Union Party (Syria) (PYD) and People's Defense Units (YPG), and of the followers of Fethullah Glen, a US-based cleric accused by Turkey of orchestrating the failed 2016 Turkish coup d'tat attempt.
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