“Turkey can not welcome Sweden, Finland to NATO due to terrorism”
As long as the terrorist leaders’ speeches are broadcast on Swedish state television, Turkey can not welcome them to NATO, said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday.
Erdoğan reaffirmed Turkey’s stance towards Sweden and Finland’s aspirations to become NATO members.
“NATO is a security organization, not a terrorist organization,” he said.
“Turkey can not support Sweden’s NATO bid while its state television broadcasts interviews with terrorist leaders, and the same applies to Finland,” he added.
With regard to Sweden’s and Finland’s applications to join NATO, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also said that Turkey expects concrete measures to meet its legitimate concerns.
He said that Ankara first expected an official response from Helsinki and Stockholm, before an opportunity for a trilateral meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Sweden and Finland applied to join the Western defense alliance last month in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but their bids have met with opposition from Turkey, which has accused them of supporting terrorist groups.
While the two Nordic countries have said that talks would continue to resolve the dispute, President Erdoğan said last week that Ankara had not received any response to its demands, including stopping support for groups that Turkey considers terrorists, lifting arms embargoes against Ankara and extradition. of suspects you are looking for. .
Each offer to join NATO requires the support of each of its 30 members. Turkey, which has been a NATO ally for more than 70 years, has said it will not change its view unless the Nordic countries take “concrete steps” regarding their concerns.
During a visit to Washington, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he would convene senior officials from Finland, Sweden and Turkey in Brussels in the coming days to discuss the issue. NATO leaders will meet in Madrid on June 29-30.
Earlier, Erdoğan said that NATO was not an organization capable of providing protection against terrorism, citing demonstrations and events organized by the PKK terrorist group in allied countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and Greece, whose envoys to Ankara were called over the issue.
The president said that Ankara would not “fall for the same mistake” while PKK members “roam free” in Finland and Sweden. The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
At the end of May, Turkey hosted consultations with Swedish and Finnish delegations in Ankara on their NATO applications. Erdoğan said the meetings had not been “at the desired level.”