Turkey positive on Finland’s NATO membership

Published by Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Matty Mattikainen)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on the 1st that Turkey has a positive attitude towards Finland’s joining NATO.

Erdogan said in a speech in parliament that day that Turkey has a positive attitude towards Finland, but not Sweden, on the issue of joining NATO.

Erdogan said on January 29 that Turkey may treat Finland and Sweden differently in joining NATO. Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu later said that he had communicated with the Finnish side on the issue of accession to the treaty. Finland has made some progress on this issue, but Sweden has had some “provocative incidents”.

Protests against Turkey have taken place in Sweden recently. Turkey sent a note to the Swedish ambassador to Turkey to protest the demonstrations and canceled a planned visit by the Swedish defense minister to Turkey.

Sweden and Finland will apply to join NATO in May 2022. In June of the same year, Turkey, Sweden, and Finland signed a memorandum, confirming that Turkey agreed to support Sweden and Finland in joining NATO. Sweden and Finland would not support the PKK, the Syrian Kurdish armed “People’s Protection Forces” and the “Gulen Movement” and agreed to dissolve the NATO alliance. Restrictions on the export of defense equipment to Turkey.

According to the regulations, NATO must have the “unanimous consent” of the 30 member states before it can admit new members. Currently, Turkey and Hungary have not officially ratified Sweden and Finland to join NATO.