ANKARA, Feb 1 (Portal) – Turkey welcomes Finland’s bid for NATO membership but does not support Sweden’s bid, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.
“Our position towards Finland is positive, but it is not positive towards Sweden,” Erdogan said in a speech to his AK party MPs in parliament on their NATO proposals.
Sweden and Finland applied to join the Transatlantic Defense Pact last year after Russia invaded Ukraine, but faced unexpected objections from Turkey and have been trying to enlist their support ever since.
Ankara wants Helsinki and Stockholm in particular to crack down on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), viewed by Turkey and the European Union as a terrorist group, and another group they blame for a 2016 coup attempt.
The three nations agreed on a way forward in Madrid last June, but Ankara suspended talks last month as tensions rose following protests in Stockholm where a far-right Danish politician stole a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Koran, burned.
last update
Watch 2 more stories
“Sweden shouldn’t bother trying at this point. We will not say ‘yes’ to their NATO proposal as long as they allow the Koran to be burned,” Erdogan said.
Sweden’s foreign minister said there could be no compromise on freedom of expression, but Sweden will continue to implement the Madrid Agreement.
“It is very clear what is necessary for Sweden to become a member of NATO and that means that we meet the requirements contained in the trilateral agreement,” he told the national news agency TT.
“Religion is not part of the deal.”
Erdogan signaled at the weekend that Ankara could agree to Finland joining NATO before Sweden. But Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said Monday his country is sticking to its plan to bid alongside Sweden.
Of the 30 NATO members, only Turkey and Hungary have yet to ratify the Nordic countries’ membership.
Asked if Turkey has plans for separate processes for Finland and Sweden, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said it would be NATO and the two Nordic countries who would decide on separate ratifications.
“Of course, if NATO and the two countries decide on separate accession procedures, Turkey will consider Finland’s membership separately and more favorably,” Cavusoglu said at a press conference with his Estonian counterpart in Tallinn.
Finland on Wednesday reiterated its position that it will keep pace with its Nordic neighbor.
“Finland continues to advance the accession process together with Sweden,” the Joint Presidential and Governmental Committee on Finnish Security and Foreign Policy said in a statement.
“It is in the best interest of Finland, Sweden and the whole of NATO to achieve membership of both countries as soon as possible,” she added.
Reporting by Nevzat Devranoglu and Ezgi Erkoyun; additional reporting by Essi Lehto in Helsinki and Simon Johnson in Stockholm; Writing by Huseyin Hayatsever; Edited by Daren Butler, Jonathan Spicer, Ben Dangerfield and Bernadette Baum
Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.