“We don’t have a positive opinion,” Erdogan said on Sweden’s NATO bid for Finland.
Istanbul:
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey does not have a “positive opinion” on Finland and Sweden joining NATO, a potential obstacle to the nations’ membership bid.
The leader of NATO-member Turkey spoke on Sunday ahead of expected confirmation from the Nordic countries that they would apply to join the Western military alliance.
Erdogan accused both countries of harboring “terrorist organizations” in their unfavorable evaluation of membership bids.
“Our opinion is not positive,” Erdogan told reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul.
“Scandinavian countries are like guesthouses for terrorist organizations,” he said.
Turkey has long accused the Nordic countries, particularly Sweden, of harboring extremist Kurdish groups, as well as supporters of a US preacher, Fethullah Gulen, of wanting a failed coup in 2016.
Erdogan cited a “mistake” made by Turkey’s former rulers, who had corrected Greece’s NATO membership in 1952.
“We, as Turkey, do not want to make a second mistake on this issue,” he said.
– Requires unanimous approval –
Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February has changed political and public opinion in Finland and Sweden in favor of membership as a deterrent against Russian aggression.
The two countries have cooperated with NATO for a long time and are expected to be able to join the alliance quickly.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly said he would be welcomed “with open arms”.
Turkey’s response is the voice of the first dissent against the two Nordic countries’ NATO prospects.
The foreign ministers of Sweden and Finland responded on Friday, saying they were looking forward to meeting their Turkish counterparts in Berlin at the informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Saturday.
“We will then have the opportunity to discuss a possible Swedish NATO application,” Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said in a statement to AFP.
Speaking at a Helsinki press conference, Finland’s Pekka Havisto also said he expected to meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Kavusoglu during the weekend to “continue our discussions”.
Stockholm and Helsinki have strengthened their international contacts to seek support for their potential bids.
Once a country decides to apply for NATO membership, the 30 members of the coalition must agree unanimously to make a formal invitation, which is followed by membership negotiations.
Final approval could take place at the end of June at the NATO summit in Madrid. The 30 member states would then have to ratify the decision.
Turkey, which has good relations with Kyiv and Moscow, is keen to play a mediating role to end the conflict and has offered to host the leaders’ summit.
Ankara has supplied combat drones to Ukraine, but has shied away from imposing sanctions on Russia along with Western allies.
– ‘Hungary of the European Union’ –
Erdogan’s comments could also increase tensions with France, whose President Emmanuel Macron has said NATO was going through a “brain death” partly because of Turkey’s behavior.
Macron has made it clear that he supports Finland’s bid as does the United States.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday that Washington was “working to clarify Turkey’s position”, adding that the two countries had “widespread support” for joining the coalition.
The Finnish president spoke with Erdogan in April as part of consultations for his NATO bid.
“I thank President Erdogan for his efforts to make peace in Ukraine. Turkey supports Finland’s cause,” he tweeted at the time.
Turkey’s position on Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership looks a lot like the “Hungary of the European Union”, said Washington Institute fellow Sonner Cagapte.
Pro-Russia Hungary often breaks with its EU allies on a number of issues, including the rule of law and human rights.
Cagapte said Ankara should have discussed its terrorism concerns behind closed doors with the two countries.
“The fact that this is done in public will do a great deal of damage to Ankara’s image,” he said.
But Erdogan is “a smart strategy,” said Elizabeth Brough, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
“It knows this is an opportunity for Turkey to get something from NATO member states … for example, the F-35,” he said, referring to the jets of US defense giant Lockheed Martin.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)