Sweden and Finland will send delegations to Ankara this week, in the hope of convincing Turkey to no longer oppose their candidacy to join NATO, the Finnish foreign minister said on Tuesday.
“When we see problems coming, of course, we take the diplomatic route. We send our delegations to visit Ankara, from both Sweden and Finland. It will happen tomorrow,” Pekka Haavisto told a panel discussion in Davos, where the World Economic Forum is meeting this week. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted Helsinki to rethink the position that had long kept it outside the Atlantic Alliance, the minister recalled.
“We believe that NATO is a group of 30 democratic countries with common values and very strong transatlantic cooperation, and that is what we are looking for at the moment,” he added. According to a statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Presidency Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin and Deputy Minister Sedat Onal will attend the meeting to be held on Wednesday.
According to Turkish private television NTV, which quotes Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Ankara has prepared a “draft agreement” which will serve as the basis for discussions. Turkey wants “guarantees” that can be given in an official and signed agreement. Turkey has long accused the Nordic countries, and in particular Sweden, which has a large community of Turkish immigrants, of harboring Kurdish militants as well as supporters of the preacher Fethullah Gülen, who has been living in the United States since 1999 and accused of orchestrating the July 2016 coup attempt.
“There could also be other issues that are not directly related to Finland and Sweden”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned again on Saturday that he would oppose the two countries’ candidacy for NATO until they met his demands in the fight against terrorism – which could represent a major obstacle, because a consensus is necessary for the decisions of the Alliance. “We understand that Turkey has security concerns of its own, such as terrorism,” commented Mr. Haavisto. “We think we have good answers” and “that this problem can be solved”.
Some analysts believe that Ankara’s opposition may also be aimed at extracting concessions from other NATO members, for example obtaining deliveries of fighter planes from the United States. “There could also be other issues that are not directly related to Finland and Sweden,” Mr. Haavisto commented on Tuesday, saying he was convinced that “NATO can solve this problem. »