Turkey is taking things seriously and is blocked, according to some media, the start of NATO membership talks for Finland and Sweden. Turkey accepts their membership only under certain conditions.
Just hours after Finland and Sweden submitted their application for NATO membership, a decision had to be made to launch the membership process needed for this purpose. But as some media reported, Turkey thwarted the plan and blocked the decision.
Turkey had threatened to veto the two countries’ accession. For Sweden and Finland be part of the military alliance, all its members must approve their membership.
Turkey makes demands
But Turkey has raised its security concerns and made applications for two membership candidates. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames Finland and Sweden for supporting the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Kurdish militia YPG in Syria. Turkey considers both of these organizations “terrorist”.
In addition, the Turkish government is pressuring Sweden and Finland to extradite suspected supporters of Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey suspects are in the two countries.
In a speech to his ruling Islamic-conservative party, the AKP, in Ankara, Erdogan reaffirmed his stance. NATO enlargement with these two members for Turkey has to do with respect its sensitivity, stressed the Turkish head of state. He criticized Sweden and Finland for not wanting to give up their support for “terrorist organizations” in the future. He again criticized Sweden for refusing to extradite “terrorists” and noted:
“NATO is a security alliance, a security organization. In this sense, we can not say yes to making this security body insecure.”
The NATO spokesman does not want to speak
An Alliance spokesman declined to comment on the discussions within the NATO Council. He merely stressed that Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg was determined to reach a speedy settlement for Finland and Sweden. “These two countries are our closest partners and joining NATO would increase Euro-Atlantic security,” he said.
The German government has already approved the membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO. The Federal Cabinet approved the signing of the protocols of the North Atlantic Treaty regarding the accession of the two states.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz assured two potential new NATO members on Tuesday that Germany would commit to quickly ratifying their membership application. This morning, Chancellor Scholz stressed that the Federal Republic already feels obliged to mutual protection, although Sweden and Finland are not yet officially part of the defense alliance.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock once again welcomed on Twitter the decision of Finland and Sweden to join NATO. The Green politician spoke earlier about a “historic moment” in a “very dramatic situation” and insisted, like Chancellor Scholz, that both countries should be accepted as soon as possible.