Erdogan says Turkey can accept Finland in NATO, but block Sweden | NATO News
Turkey and Hungary are the only members of the 30-nation alliance that have yet approved the Nordic nations’ application.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signaled that Ankara may accept Finland into NATO before taking any steps regarding the membership of Nordic neighbor Sweden.
Erdogan spoke just days after Ankara suspended NATO accession talks with the two countries following a protest in Stockholm in which a far-right politician burned a copy of the Koran.
“We can convey a different message to Finland [on their NATO application] and Sweden would be shocked when they see our message. But Finland should not make the same mistake as Sweden did,” Erdogan said in a televised address broadcast on Sunday.
Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, scrapping their long-standing military non-alignment.
Each member of the 30-nation alliance must approve its membership, and Turkey and Hungary are the only countries that have yet to do so. The Hungarian parliament is expected to approve the bids in February.
Erdogan’s main grievance has been Sweden’s refusal to extradite dozens of people Ankara has linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and a failed coup attempt in 2016.
He faces an election in May and has been digging in his heels over Sweden’s NATO membership as he tries to energize his conservative and nationalist supporters.
On Sunday, Erdogan repeated his demand that Sweden hand over some 120 alleged suspects.
“If you absolutely want to join NATO, you will return these terrorists to us,” Erdogan said.
“You will send these terrorists to us so you can join NATO.”
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has said that his country wants to resume the NATO dialogue with Turkey.
Late on Saturday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a travel warning for European countries due to anti-Turkish demonstrations and what it described as Islamophobia.
The warning cited an increase in anti-Turkish protests from “groups with links to terrorist groups”, a reference to the PKK, which took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.
Pro-Kurdish groups have waved the flags of the PKK and its affiliates during protests in Sweden organized in response to Sweden’s and Finland’s pledge to prevent PKK activities in their countries to secure Turkey’s approval for them to join NATO.
As part of that memorandum, Erdogan said Turkey has provided a list of 120 people it wants extradited from Sweden.