By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted 4 hours ago, Updated 4 hours ago
After months of deadlock, Turkey could approve Finland’s candidacy for NATO. Presidential Press Office / Portal
This decision would come in a context of high tension between Ankara and Stockholm.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted on Sunday January 29 that Turkey could approve Finland’s candidacy for NATO without doing the same for Sweden.
“If necessary, we can give a different message in relation to Finland. Sweden [en] will be shocked,” the Turkish head of state replied to a question about the candidacy of two Nordic countries for NATO during a TV meeting with young people. This is the first time Ankara has indicated that it is ready to treat Finland’s candidacy separately from Sweden’s.
Turkey on Tuesday, January 24, halted Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership by indefinitely postponing a tripartite meeting originally scheduled for early February to resolve Ankara’s objections to their candidacy.
Rising tensions between Sweden and Turkey
Turkey’s president warned on Monday that Sweden, already accused by Turkey of harboring Kurdish “terrorists”, could no longer count on Ankara’s “support” after a far-right activist burned a copy of the Koran in Stockholm .
However, without mentioning this incident, the Turkish President repeated his accusations against Sweden regarding Turkey’s extradition requests: “We told them: ‘If you want to join NATO, you have to give us these terrorists back.’ We gave them a list of 120 people (…) But they make fun of us saying that they have changed their constitution”.
Also readSweden and Finland join NATO: Turkey sticks to its veto
The burning of a Koran by an Islamophobic right-wing extremist near the Turkish embassy in Sweden last week sparked violent protests from Ankara and several capitals of the Muslim world. Ankara had already canceled an announced visit by the Swedish defense minister.
Regretting a “deeply disrespectful” act, Stockholm expressed its “sympathy” to Muslims, stressing that the Swedish constitution forbids banning this type of act, but without quenching Turkish anger.