Turkey will not approve Sweden, Finland joining NATO: Erdoğan
Sweden and Finland should not waste their time on diplomatic initiatives to convince Turkey without taking a clear stance against terrorist organizations, Ankara says
PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday reiterated Turkey’s objections and said the country will not approve Sweden and Finland’s bid to join NATO, as he criticized them for failing to take a clear stance against terrorist organizations.
Erdoğan’s remarks came after the Nordic countries officially announced their intention to apply for membership in the military alliance after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Turkey last week said it would not view their applications positively, mainly citing their history of support to terrorist organizations, including the PKK and its Syrian wing, the YPG.
Any membership bid must be unanimously approved by NATO’s 30 members.
“Neither of these countries has a clear, open attitude toward terrorist organizations,” Erdoğan said at a joint news conference with his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune in the capital Ankara. “How can we trust them?”
“First of all, we cannot say ‘yes’ to those who impose sanctions on Turkey, on joining NATO which is a security organization,” he noted.
Sweden and Finland had imposed arms export embargoes on Turkey after its military operation seeking to clear northern Syria east of the Euphrates of the YPG in 2019.
Erdoğan described Sweden as an “incubation center for terrorist organizations,” saying some members of its parliament supported the PKK, designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
Sweden yesterday signed a formal request to join NATO, a day after the country announced it would seek membership in the 30-member military alliance. In neighboring Finland, lawmakers formally endorsed Finnish leaders’ decision also to join.
The Swedish foreign office said earlier on Monday that senior representatives of Sweden and Finland plan to travel to Turkey for talks to address Ankara’s concerns.
However, Erdoğan said they “should not bother” coming if they hope to convince Ankara into relaxing its objections to their membership.
“They say they will come to Turkey on Monday. Are they coming to convince us? Excuse me but they should not tire themselves,” he noted.
Erdoğan said NATO would become “a place where representatives of terrorist organizations are concentrated” if the two countries joined.
The president said Sweden and Finland rejected to extradite people with links to the PKK and Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), the terrorist group behind the defeated coup of 2016 in Turkey.
The Justice Ministry on Monday said the two countries had not granted approval to Turkey’s request for the extradition of 33 people with links to the PKK and the FETÖ.
Turkey said it wanted the Nordic countries to halt their support to terrorist groups present on their territory, and lift bans on sales of some weapons to Turkey.
Finland and Sweden should be able to reach an agreement with Turkey over Ankara’s objections to the two Nordic countries joining the 30-nation NATO alliance, Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto said yesterday.
As Turkey is a valued member of the NATO alliance, any security concerns it has the need to be addressed, the NATO chief also said Monday after discussing with the Turkish top diplomat about the membership bids of Sweden and Finland.
“Spoke with Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu about the decisions by our closest partners Finland & Sweden to apply for NATO membership. Turkey is a valued Ally & any security concerns need to be addressed,” Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Twitter after a phone call with Çavuşoğlu. “We must stand together at this historic moment,” he added.
The potential NATO membership of Sweden and Finland would “strengthen” the European Union, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell also said yesterday at a meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels.
Borrell added that he “hopes NATO will be able to overcome” Turkey’s objections to Finland and Sweden’s bid.