Türkiye may favor Finland’s NATO bid

ANKARA

Türkiye may respond “differently” to Finland’s NATO bid, which will “shock” Sweden, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Jan. 29.

“We may respond differently to Finland if necessary. Sweden would be shocked when we respond differently to Finland. But Finland should not make the same mistake,” Erdoğan said at a meeting in the northwestern province of Bilecik.

Ankara sent a list of 120 “terrorists” to Sweden for extradition, Erdoğan said, adding that the Nordic country must extradite these people to Türkiye in order to join NATO.

Finland and Sweden won formal support for their plans at a historic NATO summit in June. Their bids were then swiftly ratified by 28 of NATO’s 30 member states, highlighting the urgency of the issue in the face of Russia’s aggression.

NATO member Türkiye hasn’t ratified but endorsed their accession, which requires unanimous approval from all present alliance members. Sweden and Finland have taken some steps to address Türkiye’s concerns but Ankara says more concrete actions are needed for the Turkish Parliament’s ratification of their accession to the alliance.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also said that Türkiye may show a different approach to Finland’s NATO bid than Sweden.

“If NATO and these countries take such a decision, we, as Türkiye, think that we may evaluate the applications separately, but first of all, NATO and these countries have to decide,” Çavuşoğlu said on Jan. 30 at a joint press conference with his Portuguese counterpart, Joao Gomes Cravinho.

“We’ve been saying that we have fewer problems with Finland since the two countries’ application process started. It would be fair to distinguish between a problematic country and a less problematic one,” the minister added.

“However, it was requested that the membership process of the two countries be carried out together,” Çavuşoğlu said, noting that for this reason, the tripartite agreement was signed. “Since then Finland has taken some steps, but no provocations as in Sweden,” he added.

Çavuşoğlu said he and Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto discussed the issues during a phone talk after Erdoğan’s remarks on Türkiye’s approach attitude toward Finland’s NATO bid.

Türkiye is not against the enlargement of NATO and categorically has no problems with Finland and Sweden, he said, adding that Ankara understands their security concerns, which is “legitimate.”

The minister recalled the two main threats that were mentioned in NATO documents. “One of them is Russia, and we understand that they are worried about it. The other is terrorism. Therefore Türkiye’s concerns should not only be understood but also met, that’s why they signed the tripartite memorandum, he stated.

“Our President says that we can have an independent evaluation of Finland on the subject of Sweden. We need to be fair about this. That’s why our president emphasized this,” Çavuşoğlu said.