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Turkey opposes NATO membership for Finland and Sweden
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Erdogan cited a “mistake” made by Turkey’s former rulers who okayed Greece’s NATO membership in 1952.
The Arabnews reported, citing the AFP, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday (May 13) said Turkey did not have a “positive opinion” on Finland and Sweden joining NATO, throwing up a potential obstacle for the nations’ membership bid.
The leader of NATO-member Turkey spoke ahead of expected confirmations from the Nordic nations on Sunday that they will apply to join the Western military alliance.
Erdogan accused both countries of harboring “terrorist organisations” in his unfavourable assessment of the membership bids.
Erdogan told journalists after Friday prayers in Istanbul that “We do not have a positive opinion. Scandinavian countries are like a guesthouse for terror organizations."
Turkey has long accused Nordic countries, especially Sweden which has a strong Turkish immigrant community, of harboring extremist Kurdish groups as well as supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based preacher wanted over a failed 2016 coup.
Erdogan cited a “mistake” made by Turkey’s former rulers who okayed Greece’s NATO membership in 1952. He said that “We, as Turkey, do not want to make a second mistake on this issue."
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Finland and Sweden have long cooperated with NATO, and are expected to be able to join the alliance quickly.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly said they would be welcomed “with open arms.”
Turkey’s “not positive” response is the first dissenting voice against the two Nordic countries’ NATO prospects.
Sweden’s and Finland’s foreign ministers responded on Friday by saying they were hoping to meet their Turkish counterpart in Berlin at an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Saturday.
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Sweden’s Foreign Minister Ann Linde said in a statement to AFP: “We will then have the opportunity to discuss a potential Swedish NATO application." She also noted that the “Turkish government had not delivered this type of message directly to us.”
Speaking at a Helsinki press conference, Finland’s Peeka Haavisto also said he hoped to meet with Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu during the weekend to “continue our discussion.”
Ankara has supplied Ukraine with combat drones, but has shied away from slapping sanctions on Russia alongside Western allies.
Source: arabnews
