NATO dispute over Sweden and Finland: Turkey blocked - surprising statements to Russia
Created: 06/22/2022, 05:41
By: Andreas Schmid
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey, has so far been against the admission of Finland and Sweden to NATO.
© Yves Herman/Pool Reuters/AP/dpa
Turkey blocks NATO's northern expansion.
According to Russian media, Sweden and Finland would join “sooner or later”.
Erdogan does not want to agree in the near future.
Ankara - Sweden and Finland want to join NATO.
Because of the Ukraine war, the Scandinavians, who have been neutral for decades, are striving to join the military alliance.
The willingness to expand north within NATO is actually great.
Only Turkey prevents admission.
Because a unanimous result is needed among the NATO members, there has been a dispute for weeks.
Sweden and Finland in NATO?
Stoltenberg sees "constructive" Turkey talks
NATO itself speaks of "constructive" talks.
Consultations on the northern expansion would continue, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday.
Turkey has "legitimate security concerns related to terrorism that we need to respond to," Norwegian Stoltenberg said.
Turkey has accused Sweden and Finland of harboring the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
It is also classified as a "terrorist organization" by its western allies.
All in all, however, Stoltenberg is looking forward to "finding a solution as soon as possible".
NATO: These countries are members
since 1949: UK, USA, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Portugal
since 1952: Greece, Turkey
since 1955: Germany
since 1982: Spain
since 1999: Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic
since 2004: Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
since 2009: Albania, Croatia
since 2017: Montenegro
since 2020: North Macedonia
NATO northern expansion: Federal government skeptical about summit solution
However, it is completely unclear when this solution will be presented.
Originally, the period June 28th to 30th was canceled.
Then the NATO summit takes place in Madrid.
The German government is skeptical that anything will happen by then.
"Of course we would like it," government officials said.
In view of the historical dimension of this decision, it is also “not a catastrophe if we need a few more weeks for it”.
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Turkey also sees no deadline for accession at the June summit.
Negotiations would continue after that, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's foreign policy adviser Ibrahim Kalin said on Monday.
The settlement of the dispute "now depends on the direction and the speed with which these countries (Sweden and Finland) take steps".
Turkey may expect security guarantees.
NATO dispute: “Turkey cannot be expected to reach an early agreement”
The Russian media read somewhat different tones from Ankara on Tuesday.
The Russian news agency Tass quoted Huseyin Bagci, head of the Ankara-based Institute for Foreign Policy.
Although Turkey is not per se opposed to Sweden and Finland joining, it will at least not agree to the application in the near future.
A hanging game over several months also seems conceivable.
"Turkey cannot be expected to give the green light at the Madrid summit."
Sweden and Finland would join NATO "sooner or later".
"But it is highly unlikely that this will happen before the end of this year, and NATO may have to hold another summit."
"The time has come for diplomacy behind closed doors."
Sweden is apparently also aware of this.
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said Monday she was prepared for the fact that joining NATO would take "a while".
