The Turkish government has said it is ready to postpone Accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO for another year if he does not receive guarantees that the Nordic countries will support Turkish groups that Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers “terrorist organizations.”
Turkey has issued warnings slow down the candidacy of the two countries in NATO, and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin has already acknowledged that the accession process could be complicated if the differences between the countries are not resolved before the Atlantic Alliance summit, which begins on June 29 in Madrid. “If we don’t resolve these issues before Madrid, we risk freezing the process.”
“This is a matter of national interest and we are ready to suspend membership for a year if necessary,” said Akif Çağatay Kılıç, an MP from the Justice and Development Party in power. “Turkey is the second largest army in NATO and has provided drones that help Ukraine defend itself. We deserve more respect.”
According to Kilic, also chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish Parliament, Turkey has always respected the duties and responsibilities that lie with it as a member of the Alliance.
“What is it [a Suécia e a Finlândia] Will I? They host terrorist organizations that kill my people, disrespect my borders, threaten the existence of my country. The keeper. “The only thing we demand is that there be no differences. A terrorist organization is a terrorist organization.”
Erdogan believes that the two Scandinavian countries, in particular Sweden, protect terrorists saluting the Kurds associated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Defense Units (YPG).
In addition, Sweden and Finland banned the export of weapons to Ankara due to Turkish military offensives in Syria in 2019, which angered Erdogan.
At the end of May, the President of Turkey continued to be inflexible and accused Stockholm and Helsinki of not taking the negotiations with Turkey seriously: “The negotiations of our delegation with the delegations of Sweden and Finland were not at the level we had hoped for.”
Since then, however, Sweden and Finland have joined forces to try to appease the Turkish head of state, emphasizing the importance of fighting terrorism and considering resuming arms sales to Turkey.
Sweden’s foreign policy report, released last Friday, mentions tougher anti-terror legislation due to come into effect on July 1. The law, for example, would allow the Swedish secret services more autonomy to track communications from suspects linked to terrorist groups.
During a visit to Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed the ongoing changes in legislation and the intention to dispel Ankara’s fears.
But Erdogan’s orders go further: the deportation of Kurdish activists to Turkey, the removal of Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist, and the severing of relations with the autonomous Kurdish administration in Syria supported by the United States.
Although tensions between the governments of Turkey and Finland are less pronounced, it is unlikely that the two Scandinavian countries will split in the process of applying to join the Atlantic alliance.
