Turkey’s president frowns on allowing Finland, Sweden to join NATO
HELSINKI — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that his country is “not favorable” toward Finland and Sweden joining NATO, indicating Turkey could use its membership in the Western military alliance to veto moves to admit the two countries.
“We are following developments concerning Sweden and Finland, but we are not of a favorable opinion,” Erdogan told reporters.
The Turkish leader explained his opposition by citing Sweden and other Scandinavian countries’ alleged support for Kurdish militants and others whom Turkey considers to be terrorists.
He said he also did not want to repeat Turkey’s 1980 “mistake” of agreeing to readmit Greece into NATO’s military wing. He claimed the action had allowed Greece “to take an attitude against Turkey” with NATO’s backing.
Erdogan did not say outright that he would block accession attempts by the two Nordic nations. But NATO makes all its decisions by consensus, meaning that each of the 30 member countries has a potential veto over who can join.
Russia’s aggression in Ukraine prompted Finland and Sweden to reconsider their traditions of military nonalignment.
Should the two countries proceed on that path, it would represent a blow to Russia since President Vladimir Putin cited NATO’s expansion near Russian territory as one of his justifications for invading Ukraine.
President Joe Biden held a call Friday with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and President Sauli Niinisto of Finland.
The White House said in a statement that Biden “underscored his support for NATO’s Open Door policy and for the right of Finland and Sweden to decide their own future, foreign policy and security arrangements.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that Washington is “working to clarify Turkey’s position” and believes there is “broad support” among NATO members for Finland and Sweden to join the alliance.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to meet his NATO counterparts, including the Turkish foreign minister, this weekend in Germany.
The accession procedure could be done in “a couple of weeks,” several NATO officials have said, although it could take around six months for member countries to ratify the accession protocol.