Next NATO basket from Erdogan?

Turkey presents demands to Finland ahead of sensitive meeting

Created: 12/07/2022 11:13 am

By: Florian Naumann

According to President Erdogan, Turkey has not discussed the offensive with either the United States or Russia beforehand.

© Christoph Soeder/dpa

For Sweden there was a rebuff from Erdogan recently.

A Finnish minister is now traveling to Turkey – he has to listen to a clear demand beforehand.

Ankara/Helsinki – At the beginning of November, Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson traveled to Ankara – and picked up a basket from Recep Tayyip Erdogan about joining NATO quickly.

Now it is Finland's Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen's turn.

With the trip to Turkey.

And probably also with a rebuff from the Turkish government.

Kaikkonen will be in Ankara on Thursday (8 December).

The mission is clear: lift the Turkish veto against Finland and Sweden joining NATO.

It seems unlikely that this will succeed.

Already on Tuesday evening (December 6), Erdogan's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu presented a clear demand to the Finnish government.

NATO accession: Turkey makes demands on Finland – but Helsinki wants to decide “on a case-by-case basis”.

"It is important that the Finnish Foreign Minister comes to Turkey, because so far there has been no commitment from Finland to lift the arms embargo against us.

We expect such a commitment from them," said Cavusoglu, according to reports from the Reuters agency and the Turkish newspaper

.

In fact, Finland, Sweden and Turkey agreed in June to lift the arms embargo.

Sweden has already done this, but Erdogan's government is also demanding that Stockholm hand over a long list of suspected terrorists before it votes yes to NATO membership.

According to a report by the Finnish

, the embargo imposed in 2019 after Turkey's attacks on Syrian Kurdish areas has not been recorded anywhere in law.

However, like Kaikkonen, President Sauli Niinisto has recently expressed reservations.

Both have emphasized that Finland has always made decisions on arms deliveries "on a case-by-case basis" and will continue to do so.

Turkey continues to put pressure on Sweden and Finland - Erdogan is in the election campaign

Turkey will hold elections in June 2023.

It is an open secret that Erdogan and his government are also using their position of power in the struggle for Finland and Sweden to join NATO for the election campaign.

Whether the NATO expansion can succeed before this date seems unclear.

However, Hungary has not yet approved the accession of the two Scandinavian countries either.

Viktor Orbán in Budapest could also be about tactical considerations in a larger dispute with the EU.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently pushed for rapid ratification.

Appropriately, the British think tank Royal United Services Institute from Great Britain recently shared a striking insight: According to the experts, Finland is the only country in Europe that has sufficient ammunition for a military conflict on the scale of the Ukraine war.

The British supply, for example, would be exhausted within a week, according to the information.

Germany is also struggling with its supply of ammunition.

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