Turkey has not closed the door to Sweden and Finland join NATObut wants negotiations with the Nordic countries and a crackdown on what it sees as terrorist activities, especially in Stockholm, the Turkish president’s spokesman said on Saturday. Tayyip Erdogan.
“We are not closing the door. But we are basically raising this issue as a national security issue for Turkey,” said Ibrahim Kalin, the president’s top foreign policy adviser.
Erdogan surprised NATO members and the two Nordic countries seeking membership by saying on Friday that Turkey could not support expanding the alliance because Finland and Sweden “host many terrorist organizations.”
Any country seeking to join the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance needs support unanimous vote of the members of the military alliance. The United States and other member states have been trying to clarify Ankara’s position.
Sweden and its closest military partner, Finland, have so far remained outside NATO, which was founded in 1949 to counter the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The two countries are afraid of alienating their big neighbor, but their security concerns have increased since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Stockholm is expected to follow the Helsinki decision and could apply to join the 30-nation military alliance from Monday.
Kalin said that the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, was fundraising and recruiting in Europe and that its presence is “strong, open and recognized”, in particular in Sweden.
“What needs to be done is clear: They have to stop allowing PKK outlets, activities, organizations, people and other types of presence… to exist in those countries,” Kalin said.
“NATO membership is always a process. We’ll see how things go. But this is the first point we want to bring to the attention of all allies, as well as the Swedish authorities,” he added. “Of course we want to have a discussion, a negotiation with the Swedish counterparts.”
Turkey, which has the second largest army in NATO, has officially supported expansion since joining the US-led alliance 70 years ago.
For years, he has criticized Sweden and other European countries for their handling of organizations deemed terrorists, including followers of a US-based Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen.
Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty says that an attack against any member country must be seen as an attack against all. Although Sweden and Finland have long had close relations with NATO, they are not covered by its security guarantee.
Turkey has criticized Russia’s invasion, helped arm Ukraine, which is not in NATO, and tried to facilitate talks between the sides, but opposes sanctions against Moscow. She has said that she wants NATO to “address the concerns of all members, not just some,” Kalin said.