“We have no positive opinion. Scandinavian countries are like hostels for terrorist organizations,” Erdogan said. He accused Stockholm and Helsinki of “hosting PKK terrorists”, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
Former leaders of Turkey have made a mistake by allowing Greece to join NATO earlier, Erdogan says. “We don’t want to make a second mistake.” If Turkey does not support any requests from Sweden and Finland, it means that those countries cannot join the alliance.
In a response, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto calls for patience and a step-by-step approach. He also states that Turkey would have reacted positively earlier. Haavisto and his Swedish colleague are in Berlin on Saturday at an informal NATO meeting. There they also meet their Turkish counterpart.
Erdogan’s comments also come as a surprise to the United States, which has asked Turkey for clarification, a top US State Department official said. It is not entirely clear to her whether Turkey is now against accession. According to her, all NATO members have good relations with the two Scandinavian countries and the dispute will certainly be discussed this weekend in Berlin.
‘Grateful for support’
President Joe Biden spoke to Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö on Friday. The latter says that he has gone through his country’s next steps towards NATO membership and says he is grateful for the support of the United States.
Finland and Sweden have not yet taken an official decision on joining NATO, but they seem to be tending to do so. More information will be released this weekend about whether both countries want to join the alliance. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg previously said the countries could join soon.