Erdogan tells Stoltenberg that Turkey’s opposition to Finland, Sweden’s NATO bid is “legitimate”
As Turkey has raised concerns about Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO offerings, the Turkish president reiterated that Ankara’s security concerns are “fair and legitimate”. In a telephone conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on 3 June, Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the two Nordic nations’ NATO ambitions and Ankara’s security problems regarding their membership in the military alliance.
Erdogan warned Stoltenberg that Sweden and Finland must show that they do not support terrorists and are willing to show alliance cooperation if the sanctions against Turkey are to be lifted. Stoltenberg, for his part, emphasized that Turkey, which he described as an important ally of NATO, must meet its security obligations. On 18 May, Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO, a decision prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
Turkey, a longtime member of the alliance, has, however, expressed opposition to the countries’ membership ambitions and accused them of tolerating and even aiding terrorist groups such as the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO). All 30 NATO member nations must vote in favor of accession. At the end of May, Turkey convened meetings in Ankara with the Swedish and Finnish delegations to discuss their NATO applications. The meetings, Erdogan stated, were not “at the desired level”.
Blinken, Stoltenberg believes that Sweden, Finland’s accession to NATO will strengthen the bloc
On June 1, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Stoltenberg stated that adding Sweden and Finland to NATO would strengthen the alliance. During a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General, Blinken stated that the United States strongly supports Finland’s and Sweden’s applications and that both countries are more than qualified to join the Alliance as full members as soon as possible.
Erdogan caused an international uproar last month when he announced that he would prevent Stockholm and Helsinki from joining NATO due to suspicions that the Nordic countries harbor “terrorists” linked to Kurdish extremist groups. He reprimanded Sweden and Finland for “supporting terrorists” and maintained that the intergovernmental military alliance is a security bloc that does not support terrorist groups. He also accused Sweden and Finland of harboring terrorist cells on their land.