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Erdogan's advisor: Turkey has not closed the door to Sweden and Finland for joining NATO, but ...

2022-05-14 17:42:25Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Erdogan's advisor: Turkey has not closed the door to Sweden and Finland for
Ibrahim Kalin

Turkey has not closed the door on Sweden and Finland joining NATO, but wants negotiations with the Nordic countries and a crackdown on what it sees as terrorist activities, especially in Stockholm, President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman said on Saturday.

"We are not closing the door. But we are basically raising this issue as a matter of national security for Turkey," Ibrahim Kalin, who is also the president's top foreign policy adviser, told Reuters in an interview in Istanbul. .

Erdogan surprised NATO members and the two Nordic countries seeking membership by saying on Friday that it was not possible for Turkey to support the expansion of the alliance because Finland and Sweden were "home to many terrorist organizations".

Any country seeking membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance needs the unanimous support of members of the military alliance.

The United States and other member states have sought to clarify Ankara's position.

Sweden and its closest military partner, Finland, have so far remained outside NATO, which was founded in 1949 to oppose the Soviet Union in the Cold War.

Both countries are cautious in antagonizing their big neighbor, but their security concerns have grown since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th.

Stockholm is widely expected to follow the example of Helsinki and may apply for entry into the 30-nation military alliance as early as Monday.

Kalin said the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - described as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union - was raising funds and recruiting in Europe and its presence is "strong and open and known "in Sweden in particular.

"What needs to be done is clear: they must stop allowing PKK centers, activities, organizations, individuals and other types of presence to exist in those places," Kalin said.

"NATO membership is always a process. We will see how things go. But this is the first point we want to bring to the attention of all allies as well as the Swedish authorities," he added.

"Of course we want to have a discussion, a negotiation with our Swedish counterparts."

Turkey, NATO's second-largest military, has officially supported enlargement since joining the US-led alliance 70 years ago.

For years she has criticized Sweden and other European countries for treating organizations considered terrorist by Turkey, including followers of US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Article 5 of the NATO founding treaty states that an attack on any NATO country should be seen as an attack on all.

While Sweden and Finland have long had close relations with NATO, they are not covered by its security guarantee.

Turkey has criticized Russia's occupation, helped arm Ukraine, which is not in NATO, and has tried to facilitate talks between the parties, but opposes sanctions on Moscow.

It wants NATO to "address the concerns of all members, not just some," Kalin said.

Asked if Turkey risked being too transactional in a time of war and when Finnish and Swedish public opinion favors NATO membership, he said:

"One hundred percent of our population is very upset with the presence of the PKK and FETO (Gulenist) in Europe."

"If they (Finland and Sweden) have an audience that is concerned about their national security, we have an audience that is just as concerned about our security," he said.

"We have to look at this from a mutual perspective."

Kalin said Russia's harsh criticism of Finland and Sweden over their plans was not a factor in Turkey's position.


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