In what is seen as an effort to persuade Ankara to back its NATO application, Finland on Wednesday suggested it may be interested in buying Turkish drones.
Along with Sweden, Finland applied to join NATO last month in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but they have faced resistance from Turkey.
Ankara is accusing them of being safe havens for terrorists, including members of the YPG/PKK terrorist group, and wants them to scrap arms export bans.
"There is some weapon technology from Turkey that could be of interest to Finland. Everyone has followed these drones and other systems," Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told a press conference, cited by the Financial Times.
"But I don’t want to rush ahead of events. Let’s look at the state of current negotiations first," Haavisto noted.
He said that the Nordic country and Turkey could do arms deals with each other if both were members of the western alliance.
Sweden and Finland banned arms exports to Turkey after its 2019 military operation seeking to clear northern Syria east of the Euphrates of the YPG.
Ankara regards the YPG as identical to the PKK and views both groups as terrorist organizations. The PKK is also recognized as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.
Sweden and Finland had imposed arms export embargoes on Turkey after its military operation seeking to clear northern Syria east of the Euphrates of the YPG in 2019.
Haavisto is said to have probably referred to Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), which has proven effective in recent years in conflicts in Syria, Libya and Karabakh.
The Ukrainian military has also deployed Bayraktar TB2s, developed by Turkish drone magnate Baykar, against Russian forces.
Talks between Turkish officials and delegations from Sweden and Finland have so far made little headway in overcoming Ankara’s objections.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday that the Nordic countries had not yet provided Turkey with concrete responses that meet its expectations.
This raises the prospect that Turkey may still oppose the membership bids when NATO holds a summit later this month in Madrid. All 30 NATO members must approve expansion plans.