Finland and Sweden will send delegations to Turkey’s capital, Ankara, on Wednesday to try to resolve Turkish opposition to their requests to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) western military alliance, the minister said. Finnish Foreign Affairs, Pekka Haavisto (featured image), this Tuesday (24).
Turkish objections put the brakes on what Sweden and Finland had hoped would be a quick accession process as the two countries seek to bolster their security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We understand that Turkey has some of its own security concerns regarding terrorism,” Haavisto said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“We think these issues can be resolved. There may also be some issues that are not directly linked to Finland and Sweden, but more to other NATO members.”
Turkey says Sweden and Finland are home to people linked to the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) group and followers of Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that negotiations will start tomorrow.
On Monday, Turkey outlined conditions to support Sweden’s bid for NATO, demanding that Sweden lift sanctions against Turkey, including an arms export embargo; ending “political support for terrorism”; eliminate sources of terrorist financing and suspend arms support for the PKK and its Syrian armed wing YPG, according to a list published by the president’s communications directorate.
*Additional reporting by Helena Soderpalm and Simon Johnson in Stockholm, Ece Toksabay and Orhan Coskun in Ankara
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