The foreign ministers of Sweden and Finland will meet their counterpart from Turkey in Berlin on Saturday evening in an attempt to clear the air about the two countries’ accession to NATO. Turkey has given mixed signals about agreeing to their application.
Turkey accuses Finland and especially Sweden of hosting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), with which Turkey has been engaged in a guerrilla war for decades. Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider the PKK a terrorist organization. According to Turkey, the party is raising funds and recruits in Sweden and Finland.
Upon his arrival in Berlin, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu lashed out at the Nordic countries. He called it “unacceptable and outrageous” that aspiring NATO members support the PKK.
Still not a closed door
Earlier in the day, Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the door is not closed. Kalin, who is also Erdogan’s top foreign policy adviser, told Reuters news agency that Turkey wants to negotiate a crackdown on “terrorist” activities, especially in Stockholm.
Erdogan said Friday evening he was not in favor of NATO’s expansion to include the two countries.
Finland and Sweden want to join the military alliance in response to the Russian attack on Ukraine. All thirty NATO countries must give the green light for new members to join.
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