STOLKHOLM —
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said on Tuesday he was “optimistic” Finland and Sweden would be able to secure
Turkey’s support for their NATO membership bids, despite Ankara’s last-minute
objections. ”I am confident that with the help of constructive talks, the
situation will be resolved”, Niinisto told Sweden’s parliament in a speech,
later adding during a question period: “I’m optimistic”.
اضافة اعلان
Turkey’s
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to block the alliance’s
expansion, accusing Helsinki and Stockholm of harboring militants from the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Sweden had suspended any arms sales to Turkey since
2019 over Ankara’s military operation in neighboring Syria.
“We will not say ‘yes’ to those (countries) who
apply sanctions to Turkey to join security organization NATO,” Erdogan said
Monday. “Neither of the countries has a clear stance against terror
organizations,” Erdogan said.
Any
NATO membership bid must be unanimously approved
by the alliance’s 30 members. Sweden and Finland were caught off-guard by
Ankara’s objections, with both saying they had previously received positive
signals from all NATO countries.
Niinisto said that during a conversation with
Erdogan a month ago, the Turkish leader said his country “was favorable” to
Finland’s bid. And then “this past week he said ‘not favorable’.” A diplomatic
source said Turkey blocked a NATO declaration on Monday in favor of Sweden and
Finland’s membership and that Erdogan alone took the decision.
Sweden and
Finland have sent delegations to Turkey to meet with Turkish officials. “They
say they will come to Turkey on Monday. Will they come to persuade us? Excuse
us, but they shouldn’t bother,” Erdogan responded.
The two Nordic countries have failed to respond
positively to Turkey’s 33 extradition requests over the past five years,
Turkish justice ministry sources told the official Anadolu news agency on
Monday. The agency reported Turkey wanted individuals that were either accused
of having links to
Kurdish militants or belonging to a movement blamed for the
2016 attempted overthrow of Erdogan. Turkey has rebuked Stockholm especially
for showing what it describes as leniency towards the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
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