Erdogan again rejects NATO's northern expansion

Created: 05/29/2022Updated: 05/29/2022, 16:07

Currently blocking the beginning of the admission process of Sweden and Finland with Turkey as the only NATO member: Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

© Turkish Presidency/AP/dpa

Actually, delegations from Sweden and Finland should calm the waves in the dispute over NATO's northern expansion.

But Erdogan is sticking to his blocking attitude - and choosing harsh words.

Istanbul - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is sticking to his veto on NATO's northern expansion even after negotiations with Sweden and Finland.

"As long as Tayyip Erdogan is at the head of the Turkish state, we cannot say 'yes' to NATO membership for countries that support terrorism," Erdogan said, according to the Hurriyet newspaper on Sunday.

Talks with representatives of the two Scandinavian countries on Wednesday did not go as expected, Erdogan said.

The countries had not taken the desired steps in the fight against terrorism.

Erdogan spoke to Turkish journalists on a return flight from Azerbaijan.

Ankara criticizes alleged support of the PKK

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 stance with the alleged support of Finland and Sweden for "terrorist organizations" such as the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK.

Ankara is also demanding the extradition of alleged terrorists from both countries.

It is unclear which people are involved.

According to the Turkish media, the government-critical publisher Ragip Zarakolu, who lives in Sweden, is also on the extradition list.

Another demand from Turkey is the lifting of export restrictions on weapons.

After a Turkish military offensive against the Kurdish militia YPG in Syria in 2019, Sweden, Finland and Germany, among others, restricted arms exports to Turkey.

Turkey sees the YPG as an offshoot of the PKK.

However, the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are a close US ally in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia in Syria.

Erdogan threatens a new offensive in Syria

Regarding a possible new military offensive by Turkey in neighboring Syria, Erdogan said the United States must fulfill its duty in the fight against terrorism.

If the US does not fulfill this task, Turkey will take care of itself.

He repeated an often-uttered threat: the Turkish military could suddenly strike at night.

He stressed that Turkey is also conducting military operations against the PKK in neighboring Iraq, but the situation in Syria is the same and even more important.

Erdogan had already threatened a new offensive in Syria on Monday.

Past military operations in Syria were primarily directed against the Kurdish militia YPG.

In northern Syria, Turkey already occupies border regions and is cooperating with rebel groups.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, on the other hand, is backed by Russia.

Experts assume that Turkey expects little resistance to its actions in the event of a new offensive - from Russia because of the war in Ukraine and from the USA because of the NATO dispute.

dpa