President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday reiterated Turkey’s objections and said the country will not approve Sweden and Finland’s bid to join NATO, as he criticized them for failing to take a clear stance against terrorist organizations.
Erdoğan’s remarks came after the Nordic countries officially announced their intention to apply for membership in the military alliance after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Turkey last week said it would not view their applications positively, mainly citing their history of support to terrorist organizations, including the PKK and its Syrian wing, the YPG.
Any membership bid must be unanimously approved by NATO’s 30 members.
“Neither of these countries has a clear, open attitude toward terrorist organizations,” Erdoğan said at a joint news conference with his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune in the capital Ankara. “How can we trust them?”
“First of all, we cannot say ‘yes’ to those who impose sanctions on Turkey, on joining NATO which is a security organization,” he noted.
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.
Erdoğan described Sweden as an “incubation center for terrorist organizations,” saying some members of its parliament supported the PKK, designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said Monday that Sweden’s government has formally decided to apply for NATO membership, a day after Finnish President Sauli Niinisto confirmed that Helsinki will also apply for membership.
Sweden on Tuesday signed a formal request to join NATO, a day after the country announced it would seek membership in the 30-member military alliance. In neighboring Finland, lawmakers later in the day formally endorsed Finnish leaders’ decision also to join.
The Swedish foreign office said earlier on Monday that senior representatives of Sweden and Finland plan to travel to Turkey for talks to address Ankara’s concerns.
However, Erdoğan said they “should not bother” coming if they hope to convince Ankara into relaxing its objections to their membership.
“They say they will come to Turkey on Monday. Are they coming to convince us? Excuse me but they should not tire themselves,” he noted.
Erdoğan said NATO would become “a place where representatives of terrorist organizations are concentrated” if the two countries joined.
The president said Sweden and Finland rejected to extradite people with links to the PKK and Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), the terrorist group behind the defeated coup of 2016 in Turkey.
The Justice Ministry on Monday said the two countries had not granted approval to Turkey’s request for the extradition of 33 people with links to the PKK and the FETÖ.
Turkey said it wanted the Nordic countries to halt their support to terrorist groups present on their territory, and lift bans on sales of some weapons to Turkey.
Western countries try to convince Turkey to support the bid after Erdoğan's statements.
Finland and Sweden should be able to reach an agreement with Turkey over Ankara's objections to the two Nordic countries joining the 30-nation NATO alliance, Finland's president said on Tuesday.
"Statements from Turkey have very quickly changed and become harder during the last few days," President Sauli Niinisto said during an address to Sweden's parliament.
"But I am sure that, with the help of constructive discussions, we will solve the situation."
Niinisto said he talked by telephone with Erdoğan a month ago and that the message then had been supportive of Finnish and Swedish membership in NATO.
"But in the last week he has said 'not favorable'," Niinisto said. "That means we have to continue our discussions. I am optimistic."
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday he was confident that Turkey would support Finland and Sweden in their bid to join the NATO defense alliance, adding Germany would push for a swift accession.
The EU is already committed to supporting Finland and Sweden, said Scholz at a news conference with Liechtenstein's prime minister, adding that Germany would strengthen its military contact with the two Nordic countries, which have been neutral.
Turkey's concerns about Sweden and Finland's bid to join NATO should be taken seriously, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht also said on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels ahead of an EU defense ministers meeting, Lambrecht underlined that NATO decisions require unanimous approval from all allies, including Turkey.
"Therefore, it is also important now to have intensive talks with Turkey and take its concerns or arguments seriously," she stressed.
Lambrecht underlined Germany's support for Sweden and Finland's NATO membership and expressed hope that they will find a solution.
"If strong EU members like Sweden and Finland finally join the alliance, it will enrich NATO. I am confident that Turkey will be convinced too," she said.
As Turkey is a valued member of the NATO alliance, any security concerns it has the need to be addressed, the NATO chief also said Monday after discussing with the Turkish top diplomat about the membership bids of Sweden and Finland.
"Spoke with Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu about the decisions by our closest partners Finland & Sweden to apply for NATO membership. Turkey is a valued Ally & any security concerns need to be addressed," Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Twitter after a phone call with Çavuşoğlu.
"We must stand together at this historic moment," he added.
The potential NATO membership of Sweden and Finland would "strengthen" the European Union, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell also said on Tuesday at a meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels.
The accession of the two Nordic countries to the Western military alliance would also increase the EU’s "capacity to react" to threats along its border, Borell said as he arrived to the meeting.
According to Borrell, NATO’s potential enlargement is "the contrary of what Putin was willing to achieve" by invading Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin "was trying to stop the development of NATO [along] the borders of Russia."
Borrell added that he "hopes NATO will be able to overcome" Turkey’s objections to Finland and Sweden’s bid.
Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 has swung political and public opinion in Finland and neighboring Sweden in favor of NATO membership as a deterrent against Russian aggression.
Sweden and Finland were both neutral throughout the Cold War, and their decision to join NATO would be one of the biggest changes to Europe’s security architecture for decades, reflecting a sweeping shift in public opinion in the Nordic region since Russia invaded its neighbor Ukraine in February.
Moscow has responded to the prospect of the Nordic states joining NATO by threatening retaliation, including unspecified “military-technical measures.”
