Finally, Sweden and Finland have chosen not to join NATO
Sweden and Finland have been bidding for NATO membership for so long now, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stands tall and firmly in their way, posing an obstacle. As Ukraine gradually loses ground to Russia, tensions rise between the two Nordic nations. Sweden and Finland began to rush down the road, speeding up their bid to join NATO, but Turkey made sure to crush their dreams in every possible way.
Turkey and its president Recep Tayyip Erdogan are kicking the butts of Sweden and Finland as they try to join NATO. Turkey has made demands that Sweden finds it difficult to fulfill and thus jeopardizes its NATO ambitions. Well, not only their own, but also Finland’s ambitions. But wait, are the two Nordis now even keen join the block?
We know that in order to secure a place in the bloc, all existing member nations must agree on the accession of the bidding countries. Even if an individual country distanced itself, it could pose a serious risk to the bidding countries’ ambitions to join the bloc.
Similarly, in the case of Sweden and Finland, Turkey is posing as the final nail in the coffin. Turkey claims that Sweden and Finland’s long-term support for Kurdish “terrorists” undermines the country’s national security. Kurdish groups like the YPG have always found refuge in European capitals. Turkey also claims that the Nordic countries provide safe havens to the Gulen movement, which Turkey accuses of involvement in an attempted coup in 2016. Turkey’s objection to the membership application of Sweden and Finland shows that the road to NATO expansion is anything but smooth.
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Sweden and Turkey has reached several concessions since then, but even so, Turkey is demanding too much. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson lamented that Turkey had made unrealistic demands on his nation as a condition for joining NATO during a security conference on Sunday.
Türkiye “has confirmed that we have done what we said we would do, but it also says that it wants things that we cannot, that we do not want, give it,” he regretted. Still, he predicted Ankara would “make a decision, we just don’t know when” — with the outcome dependent on both internal Turkish politics and “Sweden’s ability to show its seriousness.”
Turkey’s objections had centered on the countries’ support for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group banned in Turkey as a “terrorist” organization.
In addition, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu chastised Stockholm for the lack of “concrete developments regarding the extradition of terrorism-related criminals and the freezing of their assets” just days after Sweden’s Supreme Court blocked the extradition of former newspaper editor Bulent Kenes last month. The Kenes body was explicitly mentioned by the diplomat.
The court rejected Kene’s request for extradition on the grounds that some of the journalist’s alleged crimes were not punishable under Swedish law and that returning home would expose him to political persecution. After the aborted coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016, Kenes was granted political asylum in Sweden. He has been accused by Ankara of knowing about the coup attempt and belonging to a terrorist group.
But now here’s a catch. Swedish citizens have encouraged their government to maintain judicial independence no matter what, even if it means postponing NATO membership. In a poll earlier this month, 79% of participants said Stockholm should “stand up for Swedish rules” in the face of Turkish demands, while only 10% said the nation should make joining the union as soon as possible a top priority.
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The statistics clearly show that Sweden is in no mood to hamper its legal structure or anything for that matter in an attempt to secure a place in the bloc. And to Turkey’s dismay even Finland has clearly said that it is in no hurry to join the bloc until neighboring Sweden gets the green light.
Without its neighbor, Finland does not want to abandon its long-standing neutrality. Pekka Haavisto, Finland’s foreign minister, told reporters on Sunday that his country was in no rush to join NATO that we couldn’t wait until Sweden got the go-ahead. Finland is clear in its stance that it will not give up its neighboring country by going ahead with the bid.
So it seems clear that both countries have finally said a clear no to their biggest ambition if it comes at the cost of kowtowing to Turkey.