ANKARA (Reuters) – President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey could not support Finland and Sweden joining NATO because he said those countries were home to “many terrorist organisations”.
This opposition could compromise the enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance, which can only be achieved unanimously.
Finland announced on Thursday its intention to apply for NATO membership and Sweden is expected to do the same, producing the opposite effect to that expected by Russian President Vladimir Putin by attacking Ukraine to prevent it from integrating. one day the Alliance.
“We are following the developments regarding Sweden and Finland and we cannot view them positively,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters, blaming NATO for accepting Greece. , its regional rival.
“We do not want to repeat such a mistake,” continued the Turkish president. “In addition, the Scandinavian countries are havens for terrorist organizations,” he added without explaining his remarks.
The Turkish power regularly criticizes Western countries and Sweden in particular for harboring on their soil members of organizations considered terrorist by Ankara, such as the Kurdish movements PKK and YPG or the supporters of Imam Fethullah Gülen, who lives in exile in the United States and whom Recep Tayyip Erdogan holds responsible for a coup attempt in 2016.
The position taken by the Turkish president could lead to a new showdown with Washington and many of its European allies, favorable to the accession of Finland and Sweden, as well as with the Secretary General of NATO, the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, who assured them that they would be “warmly welcomed”.
The Swedish and Finnish foreign ministries did not immediately respond to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s accusations.
(Report Ece Toksabay, French version Tangi Salaün)
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