Turkey accuses Finland and Sweden in particular of hosting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), with which Turkey has been engaged in a guerrilla war for decades. Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider the PKK a terrorist organization. According to Turkey, the party is raising funds and recruits in Sweden and Finland.
Upon his arrival in Berlin, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu lashed out at the Nordic countries. He called it “unacceptable and outrageous” that would-be NATO members support the PKK.
Earlier in the day, however, Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the door is not closed. Kalin, who is also Erdogan’s top foreign policy adviser, told Reuters news agency that Turkey wants to negotiate a crackdown on “terrorist” activities, especially in Stockholm.
Kalin thus softened words from Erdogan himself, who said Friday evening that he was not in favor of expanding NATO to include the two northern countries.
Finland and Sweden want to join the military alliance in response to the Russian attack on Ukraine. All thirty NATO countries must give the green light for new members to join. An informal NATO meeting will take place in Berlin on Saturday. Foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra is also present.