Finland and Sweden want to join NATO, Turkey opposes Sweden's accession.
Finland now seems to want to convince Turkey with arms exports.
Washington (USA) - Will Finland and Sweden join NATO?
A few months after the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the two countries announced their intention to join the western defense alliance NATO.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was opposed to Sweden joining NATO from the outset, and renewed his opposition in mid-January after a right-wing extremist burned a Koran.
However, apparently Finland cannot join NATO without Sweden - at least if the United States has its way.
"This has always been a discussion about Finland and Sweden, about moving from an alliance of 28 to an alliance of 30. That's what we want," US State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
Finland's accession without Sweden is a question "that we are not discussing".
This is reported by
Der Spiegel
, citing the Reuters news agency.
Finland approves arms exports to Turkey - NATO entry without Sweden in sight?
Finland, meanwhile, apparently wants to provide Turkey with arguments in favor of agreeing to join NATO.
As it became known on Wednesday, the Scandinavian country has approved the export of armaments to Turkey for the first time since 2019.
Permission to sell armored steel to a Turkish company was granted on Tuesday, said Riikka Pitkänen, special adviser to the Finnish Defense Ministry.
Turkey had made a resumption of Finnish arms deliveries a prerequisite for approval of the country's intended NATO membership.
The resumption of arms exports in Finland is not without criticism: Li Andresson, head of the Left Alliance, which is part of the alliance behind Prime Minister Sanna Marin, explained on
that her party is not behind the export of arms to countries that are in a state of war or violate human rights.
Finland and Sweden join NATO: USA warn of split in NATO
Helsinki stopped arms exports in 2019 as a result of a Turkish military operation in Syria.
The approval that has now been granted was part of an agreement concluded in June between Turkey, Finland and Sweden - which aims to join Finland with NATO.
The Turkish government had also demanded that Sweden resume arms deliveries in exchange for ratification of NATO accession, and Stockholm had already lifted its export ban at the end of September.
At the same time, the United States sent another warning message - Price warns of a split in NATO: "The burning of books that are sacred is a deeply disrespectful act," said Price.
It may have been the act of a "provocateur" in Stockholm who "deliberately tried to put distance between two of our close partners - Turkey and Sweden".
(AFP/kat)
