Turkish President Erdogan says his country is “little positive” about Sweden and Finland’s plans to join NATO. According to him, the countries are home to “many terrorist organizations”.
Should this mean that Turkey ultimately opposes accession, the two countries cannot join. For a new country to join NATO, all members must agree.
Although the head of government did not provide any details, by ‘terrorist organisations’ he mainly refers to Kurdish organizations that are active in the two countries. The Kurdish PKK is on the list of terrorist organizations in Europe, but other Kurdish organizations that are allowed are also terrorist, according to Erdogan.
The president also said he “doesn’t want to make the same mistake” as in 1980 when Turkey agreed to return Greece to NATO’s military structure. According to him, this allowed the Greeks to turn against Turkey with the support of NATO. Relations between Turkey and Greece are tense, mainly because of the long-standing dispute over the island of Cyprus, which is partly Turkish and partly Greek.
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