Ankara was initially opposed to the entry of these two countries, but, after reaching an agreement, it gave in and finally the 30 countries that make up NATO signed their accession. But Government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan He once again threatened to block the process because, according to his own declaration, said agreement is not being complied with.
The disagreement between Ankara and the Nordic countries come from afar. Norway and Sweden are characterized by having a significant Kurdish diaspora. From Turkey they denounce that Stockholm y Helsinki harbor “terrorists”, in reference to members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)exiles in these countries.
Turkey has designated the PKK as a “terrorist organization”consistent with United States and the European Union. In this context, Erdogan has demanded, in particular, that Sweden comply with the agreement and adopt a “clearer” position regarding what he considers “terrorism”.
“We have warned him that if he does not extradite the terrorists, we will not ratify their entry into NATO,” declared the Turkish president, according to the Turkish news agency Anadolu. “First of all, they have to extradite about 130 terrorists for their offers to be approved by our Parliament, but unfortunately they haven’t done that yet,” he added.
In fact, the bad relationship has become more than evident with the cancellation of the visit of the Swedish president, Andreas Norlen, to Turkey, for the “provocations” of the supporters of the PKK in the Nordic country. NATO, for its part, prefers to stay on the sidelines and it is that, for now, it has not ruled on the matter.
Erdogan, before the elections
The Turkish president has some decisive choices which were originally scheduled for June, but which Erdogan intends to bring forward to May. Therefore, the president has already made it clear that the ratification of the protocol is in no hurry and that “there is time until July.”
In addition, Ankara has positioned itself as an arbitrator in the war between Ukraine and Russiaoffering its territory to house the ceasefire negotiations and come to an agreement unlock grain exportwhat it is causing a humanitarian disaster in much of the world.
