Status: 05/14/2022 8:59 p.m
Too little harshness against Kurdish organizations like the PKK – that could become a stumbling block for Finland on the way to NATO. Foreign Minister Haavisto now wants to quickly dispel Turkey’s concerns.
The Finnish government has shown confidence that Turkish reservations about joining NATO can be allayed. “I am sure that we will find a solution to this matter,” said Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Berlin. However, he cannot promise that a solution will be found quickly.
Later that evening he will meet with his Turkish colleague Mevlut Cavusoglu to clear up any inconsistencies. He had already called his “good colleague” Cavusoglu on Friday.
Turkey sees a need to discuss Sweden’s and Finland’s desire to join NATO
Christian Feld, ARD Berlin, daily news at 8:00 p.m., May 14, 2022
“Taverns for terrorist organizations”
Statements by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had shaken the accession plans, which had initially been conflict-free. Among other things, he said: “We are currently observing developments in Sweden and Finland, but we do not have a positive opinion on them.” Scandinavian countries are almost “guesthouses for terrorist organizations” like the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK.
Foreign Minister Cavusoglu reaffirmed this position in Berlin. Sweden and Finland “openly” supported the Kurdish organizations PKK and YPG. The majority of the Turkish population is against the NATO membership of countries that “support these terrorist organizations”. Cavusoglu said it was “unacceptable” for Turkey if “friends and allies” supported Kurdish extremists. At the same time, he was open to discussing efforts to join NATO with the representatives of Helsinki and Stockholm.
Turkish irritation at Sweden
Sweden’s stance on militant Kurdish militias in northern Syria is a thorn in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s side, a senior adviser to Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Dem ARD Studio Istanbul. It’s about the security interests on the border with Syria.
The Cavusoglu advisor refers to Swedish weapons that threaten the Turkish state. In 2016, pro-government Turkish media reported that the army had seized an AT-4 rocket-propelled grenade near the city of Nusaybin. The weapon was developed by the Swedish armaments company Saab Bofors Dynamics and slightly modified by the US Army. There were similar reports in the following years, most recently in 2020.
Ankara was particularly upset when Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde met a delegation of Syrian politicians whom Turkey accuses of acting as the political arm of the Syrian offshoot of the PKK in 2021. Linde published a photo of the meeting and wrote that “Sweden remains an active partner”. The Scandinavian country is providing financial aid to Kurdish-controlled northern Syria.
Oliver Mayer-Rüth, ARD Studio Istanbul
The end of a long neutrality
In contrast, many other NATO countries praised and welcomed the Finnish and Swedish plans. Slovakian Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok expressed his belief that all NATO countries will support Sweden’s and Finland’s plans to join the alliance. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized the military alliance’s close ties to the two Nordic countries.
Finland had announced that the country wanted to join NATO. It is expected that Sweden will follow suit on Monday. Both countries maintained neutrality for decades and were non-aligned in military matters. However, according to surveys, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine caused the mood of the population to tip in favor of NATO membership. Finland has a border with Russia that is around 1,300 kilometers long.