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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during an election campaign speech in Denizli, western Turkey
Photo: IMAGO/Turkish presidency \ apaimages / IMAGO/APAimages
A controversial and deliberately staged burning of the Koran in Stockholm has been causing a dispute between NATO member Turkey and NATO candidate Sweden for days.
Now Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has further fueled the conflict.
At a meeting with young people that was broadcast on Turkish television, he indicated that he would agree to Finland joining NATO – without at the same time agreeing to Sweden becoming a member.
"If necessary, we can give a different answer regarding Finland," Erdoğan said on the TV appearance.
»Sweden will be shocked if we give a different answer for Finland.«
It is the first time that Turkey has indicated its willingness to treat the Finnish candidacy separately from Sweden's.
NATO member Turkey has been blocking the two countries from joining the western military alliance for months.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO after the Russians invaded Ukraine.
This requires the approval of all 30 NATO countries - but Ankara has been shooting across the board for a long time.
Turkey is making accession subject to conditions.
In particular, she called on Sweden to adopt a tougher stance against Kurdish activists whom the Turkish government considers “terrorists”.
It is about supporters of the banned Curonian Workers' Party PKK and the cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom the Turkish government blames for the attempted coup in 2016.
Sweden denies sheltering extremists.
Persistent hanging game
After a right-wing extremist burned a Koran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm this week, Turkey indefinitely postponed a meeting with Sweden and Finland planned for early February about their intended accession.
Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto also recently considered a break in talks with Turkey about Sweden and his country joining NATO to be appropriate in view of the ongoing impasse.
Parliamentary and presidential elections are due in Turkey in mid-May.
In addition to Turkey, Hungary has yet to agree to NATO expansion.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has announced that the parliament in Budapest will vote next month on whether the two Nordic countries will join NATO.
mrc/AFP/Reuters