As Turkey opposes the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, stating that the countries support terrorist organizations, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö discussed the situation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During the talks, Erdogan called on his Finnish counterpart to give up financial and political support for “terrorist groups” threatening Turkey’s national security. He warned that ignoring the threat of terrorist organizations is not the spirit of NATO.

The Turkish President’s Office issued a statement stating that President Erdogan had stated that ignoring the threat posed to NATO by an terrorist organization was contrary to the Alliance’s ethos. He further stated that Ankara has a natural right to expect respect and support for the legitimate and relentless struggle of Turkey against the clear threat to national security and the lives of its citizens.

Erdogan also spoke with the Swedish prime minister and NATO chief

Erdogan also spoke with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, noting that Turkey supports NATO’s open door policy, but stressed Sweden’s support for terrorist organizations. He further said that Sweden’s political, economic and armed support for terrorist organizations must be stopped. Meanwhile, in a separate discussion with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, Erdogan said that Turkey would not accept an alliance against Sweden and Finland unless they showed concrete cooperation on terrorism and other issues.

President Sauli Niinisto previously expressed his confusion over Ankara’s reaction to Helsinki’s decision to apply for NATO membership. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday that a majority of Turks oppose Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO because they openly support the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Kurdish YPG militias, which Ankara considers both terrorists.

On Wednesday, the Finnish and Swedish ambassadors Klaus Korhonen and Axel Wernhoff presented their applications for joining the Alliance to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. On May 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of Moscow’s response to the construction of NATO military facilities in Finland and Sweden at a conference of the Organization for Collective Security Treaty in the Kremlin, according to media reports. At the same time, Putin stated that NATO enlargement to Finland and Sweden does not pose a direct threat to Russia, because Moscow has no problems with these peoples.

Photo: AP