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NATO’s northern expansion is not making any headway. Turkey is to blame for this. In Helsinki and Stockholm, this is increasingly causing unease.
From the point of view of the middle-class Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, newly elected in the autumn, Turkey has no reason to continue to resist Sweden’s and Finland’s accession to NATO.
At his most recent appearance in Ankara alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kristersson emphasized at the final press conference that Sweden would fulfill all agreements with Turkey.
During Kristersson’s visit to Ankara, however, President Erdogan was anything but convinced that ratification could soon happen in his country. Presidential and parliamentary elections are due in Turkey next June. Erdogan will probably not give in before that.
Legend:
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson with his Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin on a recent visit to Helsinki.
srf/Bruno Kaufmann
New demands from Erdogan
Rather, he made new demands on Stockholm and Helsinki regarding the extradition of Kurdish journalists. Kurds have received asylum in both countries in recent years.
It cannot be that Turkey tells us how we protect human rights in Sweden.
This approach causes a lot of criticism in Sweden. A “kneeling” before the Turkish authorities on questions of extradition of unwanted people would have far-reaching consequences, said Green co-leader Märta Stenevi in the Swedish parliament. “It can’t be Turkey telling us how to protect human rights in Sweden,” Stenevi stressed.
The process of joining NATO by the two Nordic countries is increasingly faltering.
Legend:
Four weeks ago, Kristersson was with Erdogan to talk about joining NATO. Even then, Erdogan made it clear that he expected more concessions than had previously been agreed.
Keystone/Necati Savas
No extraditions to Turkey
For Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, the new Turkish demands on his country and Sweden have primarily to do with the political discussion within Turkey. “There is a lot of talk about suspected terrorists in Turkey,” emphasizes Haavisto to SRF.
We will follow our own laws in the fight against crime and terrorism.
In the EU – and thus also in Finland – the PKK is classified as a terrorist organization and is banned – just like in Turkey. The Finnish Foreign Minister emphasizes that the decisive factor in these questions is the country’s own national legislation. “In the agreement with Turkey, we have stipulated that we will follow our own laws in the fight against crime and terrorism.”
Legend:
Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto speaks plainly: No one who has been granted asylum will be extradited to Turkey.
srf/Bruno Kaufmann
This means that neither Finland nor Sweden will respond to Erdogan’s demands to extradite certain people named by him who have received asylum in Scandinavia to Turkey.
Under the protection of the major NATO countries
But that also means that the two northern countries still have to wait to join NATO. It’s a tricky situation, Haavisto admits. However, it could be cushioned by so-called “security commitments” from large NATO countries such as Great Britain and the USA: “We know that we will be helped if the security situation here in the north deteriorates massively,” says the Finnish Foreign Minister.
However, such a deterioration should not occur at present or in the near future. Although Russia has sharply criticized the two Nordic countries’ applications to join NATO, Moscow has withdrawn most of its military units along the more than 1,300-kilometer shared border in order to deploy them in the aggressive war against Ukraine.
This gives Finland and Sweden time to stick to their own principles in the diplomatic dispute with Turkey.