SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Turkey 'will not say yes' to NATO membership for Sweden, Finland: Erdogan
Istanbul, May 16 (AFP) May 16, 2022
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday confirmed Turkey's opposition to NATO membership for Finland and Sweden, again accusing them of failing to take a clear stance against terrorism.

"We will not say 'yes' to those (countries) who apply sanctions to Turkey to join security organisation NATO," Erdogan said.

Sweden has suspended any arms sales to Turkey since 2019 over Ankara's military operation in neighbouring Syria.

Referring to the Swedish and Finnish delegations' intentions to meet with Turkish officials, Erdogan said: "They say they will come to Turkey on Monday. Will they come to persuade us? Excuse us, but they shouldn't bother."

The two Nordic countries have officially announced their intention to apply for NATO membership after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But Turkey has threatened to block the alliance's expansion, accusing them of harbouring terror groups including outlawed Kurdish militants, blacklisted by Ankara, the EU and the United States.

Any membership bid must be unanimously approved by NATO's 30 members.

"Neither of the countries have a clear stance against terror organisations," Erdogan said.

Sweden and Finland have failed to respond positively to Turkey's 33 extradition requests over the past five years, 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 (PKK), which has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced confidence Sunday that Sweden and Finland would join NATO despite Turkey's voiced concerns.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will meet with Blinken in Washington on Wednesday, where Ankara's objections are expected to figure high on the agenda.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
SPHEREx completes first full sky infrared map of the cosmos
CoDICE instrument returns first-light particle data for IMAP mission
Top 5 High Volatility Games For 2026 Chase The Biggest Jackpots Today

24/7 Energy News Coverage
The Quantum Age will be Powered by Fusion
Physicists map axion production paths inside deuterium tritium fusion reactors
Hybrid excitons speed ultrafast energy transfer at 2D organic interface

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
SDA expands Tracking Layer satellite awards and related missile defense contracts
Space Systems Command activates System Delta 80 for assured space access
Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions to provide SAR reconnaissance data to German military

24/7 News Coverage
Philosopher argues AI consciousness may remain unknowable
Climate driven model explores Neanderthal and modern human overlap in Iberia
Economic losses from natural disasters down by a third in 2025: Swiss Re



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.