Erdoğan implies Türkiye may allow Finland's NATO membership without Sweden

Photo: AA

Click to read the article in Turkish

Türkiye may have a different approach towards Finland's NATO membership, which would "shock" Sweden, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

"We may respond differently to Finland if necessary. Sweden would be shocked when we respond differently to Finland. But Finland should not make the same mistake," the president said yesterday (January 29) at an event in Bilecik.

The reasons for such a difference would be Sweden's reluctance to extradite "terror" suspects to Türkiye, as agreed in a trilateral memorandum in June, and the recent burning of the Quran outside of Türkiye's embassy in Stockholm, according to the president.

"You need to extradite these terrorists so that you can enter NATO," Erdoğan said, addressing Sweden, noting that Türkiye had given Sweden a list of 120 people to be extradited.

"Did they wipe out Islam by burning our Quran? They just showed how ignoble they are. Denmark did the same," the president further remarked.

Sweden and Finland's NATO membership bids

Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO on May 18, in a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine.

However, Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, voiced objections to the membership bids, criticizing the two countries for tolerating and even supporting "terrorist groups."

The three countries signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding on June 28 at the NATO summit in Madrid, which stipulates that Finland and Sweden will not provide support to the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the People's Defense Units (YPG), which Türkiye sees as the PKK's extensions in Syria.

The Nordic countries also agreed to address Ankara's pending deportation or extradition requests regarding "terror" suspects.
Türkiye's parliament must ratify the country's approval for Finland and Sweden's membership for them to join NATO.

In September, Sweden lifted restrictions on arms sales to Türkiye, which was among Ankara's demands in order to approve its NATO bid. (SD/VK)