ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Top leaders of Sweden and Finland on Saturday agreed to engage with Turkey and attempt to discuss its opposition to their NATO application over concerns of allegedly supporting Kurdish groups in talks with the Turkish president.
Sweden's prime minister and Finland's president held talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about his unfavorable stance on the Nordic countries' admission into NATO, agreeing to bolster each other's security and take a stance against terrorism.
"NATO allies Finland and Turkey will commit to each other's security and our relationship will thus grow stronger. Finland condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations," Finnish President Sauli Niinisto tweeted following "an open and direct phone call" with Erdogan.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said she is looking forward to strengthening "bilateral relations, including on peace, security, and the fight against terrorism," in talks with the Turkish president.
Turkey has long accused Nordic countries, in particular Sweden, which has a strong Turkish immigrant community, of harboring members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an armed group struggling for Kurdish rights in Turkey and designated a terrorist organization by the country.
The Turkish president on Saturday said his country does not view the entry of Sweden and Finland into the security alliance "positively" unless the two countries address Ankara's concerns, telling Niinisto that disregarding "terror" organizations threatening fellow NATO allies was "incompatible with the spirit of friendship and alliance."
"Unless Sweden and Finland clearly show that they will stand in solidarity with Turkey on fundamental issues, especially in the fight against terrorism, we will not approach these countries' NATO membership positively," said Erdogan to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a phone call.
Turkey expects the two applying countries to abandon financial, political, and arms support for the PKK and its alleged Syrian offshoot, the People's Protection Units (YPG) in order to approve their membership request, Erdogan said, adding that they would only be favorable to the alliance's enlargement if their "sensitivities" are respected.
US President Joe Biden on Thursday expressed his support for the Nordic countries' NATO application. He said "Finland and Sweden make NATO stronger," and offered America's "full, total, complete backing" to their request.
Moscow's February 24 invasion of Ukraine has swung political and public opinion in Finland and Sweden in favor of membership as a deterrent against Russian aggression.
Admission into NATO requires all 30 members of the alliance to unanimously agree to extend a formal invitation.
