Erdogan partner brings NATO exit into play: Sweden probably makes Turkey an offer - Ankara wants concrete steps

Created: 05/26/2022, 04:56

By: Florian Naumann, Stephanie Munk

Because of the Ukraine war, Sweden and Finland want to join NATO soon - but Turkey is blocking accession.

Representatives of the two countries will meet with Erdogan on Wednesday.

News ticker.

• Sweden and Finland want to join NATO in the Ukraine conflict

  .

• Turkey is resisting NATO membership:

  the country is blocking the plans and sees its own interests at risk

• Negotiations with Erdogan in Ankara:

  Representatives of the three countries will meet on Wednesday, May 25th

• This

  news ticker about the planned NATO accession of Finland and Sweden

  is constantly updated.

Update from May 25, 7:55 p.m .:

After meeting with representatives from Sweden and Finland, Turkey renewed its demands for approval of the NATO admission process.

Turkey's security concerns have been made clear once again and concrete steps are expected in this regard, said Presidential Advisor Ibrahim Kalin after a meeting of the delegations in Ankara.

Otherwise the process cannot move forward.

The Scandinavian countries should take action against propaganda and financing of "terrorist organizations" such as the banned Kurdish Workers' Party and the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG, Kalin said.

Turkey is currently the only NATO member to publicly block the beginning of the process of admitting the two Nordic countries into the defense alliance.

Ankara justifies its position with the alleged support of Finland and Sweden for "terrorist organizations", referring to the PKK, the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG and the Gülen movement, which it blames for the 2016 coup attempt.

Turkey leaving NATO?

- Erdogan's ally with a new statement

Update from May 25, 4:30 p.m .:

Bigger news from the negotiations between the nato candidate countries Sweden and Finland and Turkey are a long time coming.

However, reports on the sidelines of the meeting in Ankara point to a difficult starting position.

, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has

publicly demanded a written agreement in order to give up the accession veto.

Referring to the Turkish media, the newspaper also reported that Sweden had promised Turkey a review of its own terror legislation.

There was no confirmation of this at first.

Meanwhile, Devlet Bahceli, chairman of Erdogan's AKP's far-right coalition partner, brought up Turkey's exit from NATO.

“Turkey is not without options.

Even leaving NATO should be on the agenda as an alternative if circumstances become too confused.

We don't exist because of NATO, we won't perish without NATO," said the head of the MHP party, according to a report on the English-language website of the

.

Bahceli renewed allegations against Sweden and Finland.

“How can we tolerate these states with terrorists roaming the streets?” he allegedly told his party MPs. “Is it reasonable to cooperate with criminal countries that impose an arms embargo on Turkey?” he added.

Tougher dealings with the Kurdish-Syrian YPG and a lifting of the said embargo are among Turkey's demands of Sweden.

There had already been speculation in the West about a NATO without Turkey.

However, the country is a strategically important partner for the alliance.

NATO accession: Sweden and Finland delegations in Turkey

Update from May 25, 3:50 p.m .:

Delegations from Sweden and Finland are working in Ankara on a solution to the NATO dispute with Turkey.

Meanwhile, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson has denied allegations by Turkey.

"Of course we don't send any money to terrorist organizations or weapons," she said at a press conference in Stockholm on Wednesday afternoon.

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Andersson was reacting to accusations from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to him, both Sweden and Finland support the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish-Syrian YPG.

Both parties are banned in Turkey and are considered terrorist organizations there.

Turkey could use a veto to block Sweden and Finland from joining NATO.

NATO accession process: delegations from Sweden and Finland travel to Ankara

Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the lectern in Ankara.

© Mustafa Kaya/Imago Images

First report from May 25th:

Ankara - Turkey receives delegations from Sweden and Finland on Wednesday for talks about the NATO membership applications.

Representatives of the three countries are to meet in Ankara around noon, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

According to Turkish information, state secretaries are to travel for Finland and Sweden.

Sweden and Finland before joining NATO?

Guessing about talks with Erdogan advisor in Turkey

Turkey will be represented, among others, by Ibrahim Kalin, adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

A reporter from the Swedish broadcaster SVT saw the presence of one of Erdogan's "closest confidants" in the morning as a sign of the "weight" that Turkey was attaching to the issue.

Further information about the talks is not yet public, it said there.

Erdogan's Turkey is currently the only NATO member to publicly block the start of the admission process for Finland and Sweden.

The two Nordic countries in NATO jointly submitted their membership applications to NATO last week under the impression of the Ukraine war.

All 30 member countries must agree to a country joining NATO.

Erdogan blocks NATO membership: Turkey accuses Finland and Sweden of supporting terrorism

Erdogan justifies his blockade attitude with the alleged support of Finland and Sweden for "terrorist organizations".

He demands tougher action from Finland and Sweden against the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish-Syrian YPG, which the government in Ankara classifies as terrorist organizations.

Turkey is also demanding the extradition of Kurds who have found protection in Finland and Sweden.

Turkey also accuses the two countries of stopping arms deliveries to Ankara.

Last week there was already a phone call with Erdogan and his two counterparts from Sweden and Finland, but without a decisive breakthrough.