After Erdogan’s no to joining the Atlantic Alliance
(ANSA) – ISTANBUL, 25 MAY – In Ankara, consultations are underway between delegations of Sweden and Finland with Turkish officials regarding the request for NATO membership presented by Stockholm and Helsinki, on which Ankara has so far threatened a veto. This was learned from the Anadolu agency, according to which the spokesman of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ibrahim Kalin, and the Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal participate in the talks at the presidential palace of the Turkish capital. The Swedish delegation is led by Secretary of State Oscar Stenstrom and the Finnish one by State Secretary of the Foreign Ministry Jukka Salovaara.
Turkey has made it known that it will support the candidacy of the Scandinavian countries only if they renounce political and financial support and the sending of weapons to the Kurdish armed group PKK, considered terrorist by Ankara.
Turkish authorities have also called for an end to sanctions and the arms embargo imposed in recent years after the launch of a Turkish military operation against Kurdish forces in northern Syria. (HANDLE).