- Finland wants to join NATO
- Sweden is expected to follow suit in its bid to join the union
- Turkey wants its security concerns to be taken into account
ISTANBUL, May 14 (Reuters) – Turkey has not closed the door on Sweden and Finland joining NATO, but wants talks with Scandinavians and suppressing what it considers terrorist activities, especially in Stockholm, President Tayyip’s spokesman said on Saturday. Erdogan.
“We are not closing the door. But we are essentially raising this issue as a matter of Turkey’s national security,” Ibrahim Kalin, who is also the president’s top foreign policy adviser, told Reuters in an interview with Istanbul.
Erdogan surprised NATO members and the two Scandinavian countries seeking membership, saying on Friday that it was not possible for Turkey to support the alliance’s enlargement, as Finland and Sweden are “home to many terrorist organizations”.
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Any country that wants to join the North Atlantic Alliance needs the unanimous support of the members of the military alliance. The United States and other member states are trying to clarify Ankara’s position. Read more
Sweden and its closest military partner, Finland, have so far remained outside NATO, which was created in 1949 to oppose the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Both sides fear they will oppose their big neighbor, but their security concerns have increased since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th. Read more
Stockholm is expected to follow Helsinki’s example and could apply to join the 30-member military alliance as early as Monday. Read more
Kalin said the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – a terrorist organization from Turkey, the United States and the European Union – is raising funds and recruiting in Europe, and its presence is “strong and open and recognized” in Sweden in particular.
“What needs to be done is clear: they need to stop allowing PKK businesses, activities, organizations, individuals and other types of presence to exist in these countries,” Kalin said.
“NATO membership is always a process. We will see how it goes. But this is the first point we want to draw the attention of all allies, as well as the Swedish authorities,” he added. “Of course we want to have a discussion, negotiations with Swedish colleagues.”
“MUTUAL POINT OF VIEW”
Turkey, NATO’s second-largest army, has officially backed enlargement since joining the US-led alliance 70 years ago.
For years, he has criticized Sweden and other European countries for their dealings with organizations believed to be terrorists from Turkey, including followers of US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty states that an attack on any NATO country must be seen as an attack on all. Although Sweden and Finland have long had close relations with NATO, they are not covered by its security guarantee.
Turkey has criticized Russia’s invasion, helped arm Ukraine – which is not in NATO – and tried to facilitate talks between the countries, but opposed sanctions against Moscow. She wants NATO to “address the concerns of all members, not just some,” Kalin said.
Asked if Turkey risks being too transactional during the war, and when Finnish and Swedish public opinion supports NATO membership, he said: “One hundred percent of our population is very upset by the presence of the PKK and FETO in Europe.”
“If they (Finland and Sweden) have a public concerned about their own national security, we have a public that is just as concerned about our own security,” he said. “We need to see this from a mutual perspective.”
Kalin said Russia’s harsh criticism of Finland and Sweden for their plans was not a factor in Turkey’s position.
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Written by Jonathan Spicer, Edited by Timothy Herridge
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