Turkey has blocked NATO’s initial decision to process Finland’s and Sweden’s requests to join the military alliance, calling into question hopes of the two Nordic countries’ rapid accession.
NATO ambassadors met on Wednesday to begin accession talks on the same day Finland and Sweden submitted their statements, but Ankara’s opposition has suspended all voting, according to a person directly acquainted with the issue.
The postponement casts doubt that NATO will be able to approve the first stage of Finland’s and Sweden’s candidacies within a week or two, according to Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. It also marks the beginning of several days of intensive diplomacy between the United States, Turkey, Finland and Sweden on the issue.
All 30 existing NATO members have to ratify the requests of Finland and Sweden, but this process began only after the Defense Alliance issued an accession protocol and formally invited the two countries to join.
NATO declined to comment, except to reiterate Stoltenberg’s comment that “the security interests of all allies must be taken into account. [and] we are determined to work on all issues and reach a quick conclusion. “
Speaking in parliament Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attacked Western allies for disrespecting Ankara’s “sensitivity” to terrorism and accused recent NATO candidates of refusing to extradite 30 people accused of terrorism in his country.
“We asked for 30 terrorists. They said, “We don’t give them away,” he told parliament. “You will not hand over terrorists, but you want to join NATO. We cannot say “yes” to a security organization that is insecure.
Erdogan, who has the power to veto NATO membership, said NATO members must “understand, respect and support” Turkey’s sensitivity to these groups, but added: “None of our allies have shown respect, which we expected to our sensitivity. ”
The important decision by Helsinki and Stockholm to seek NATO membership comes after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a non-NATO member who shares a border with Russia, turned decades of security thinking in both Scandinavian countries.
But Erdogan’s opposition to their adoption has cast a shadow over what NATO leaders have been trying to portray as a historic moment for the alliance.
“This is a good day at a critical time for our security,” Stoltenberg said on Wednesday as Finnish and Swedish ambassadors submitted their demands at a ceremony at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Stoltenberg promised that NATO was “determined to work on all issues and reach quick conclusions”, adding: “All Allies agree on the importance of NATO enlargement. We all agree that we should stand together and we all agree that this is a historic moment that we should all take advantage of. “
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson will visit US President Joe Biden on Thursday in a bid to win his support for swift ratification and an attempt to overcome the Turkish opposition. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will meet with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in New York on Wednesday.
Niinistö said: “If we have a fast process there, it helps the whole process and the schedule.”
Turkey, a member of NATO since 1952, is saddened by what it sees as Sweden’s failure to crack down on members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militia that has been waging an armed struggle against the Turkish state since the 1980s. of the last century. He also accused Stockholm of sheltering members of the Gulen movement in exile, a secret Islamic sect that Ankara blames for a violent coup attempt that rocked Turkey in 2016.
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The Turkish pro-government newspaper Sabah on Wednesday published a list of Ankara’s 10 demands to the Scandinavian countries. These include a request to limit contacts and funding for the PKK and its Syrian branch, as well as repression against Stockholm-based media outlets linked to Gulen.
Finland and Sweden were eager to receive security guarantees, with the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark and Iceland agreeing to come to their aid if attacked before joining NATO and being the subject of collective defense.
Niinisto said during a state visit to Sweden on Tuesday that the countries were encouraged by the soft reaction of Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, to their NATO bids, and both Russian officials seem to suggest that Moscow will tolerate Finland’s accession. and Sweden to the alliance.
“Maybe Russia doesn’t want to tell its people that we have new problems,” Niinistö said.
Finland’s and Sweden’s membership in the alliance would double NATO’s borders with Russia, but would facilitate the defense of the three Baltic states, its most vulnerable point.
The Baltic states welcomed applications for membership, but stressed that NATO must agree to increase its own security at a summit in Madrid in June.
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