14 minutes agoErdogan does not change attitude towards Finland, Sweden
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)Turkey's President, Recep Tayip Erdogan, told reporters that he is still intent on blocking Finland and Sweden's NATO membership. Erdogan said meetings held this week with delegations of these two states were not “at the expected level”, stressing that no step was taken to facilitate [...]
Erdogan said the meetings held this week with the delegations of these two states were not “at the expected level”, stressing that no step has been taken to ease Turkey's security concerns.
“As long as Tayyip Erdogan is at the helm of the Republic of Turkey, we cannot say yes to NATO membership of states supporting terrorism”, Erdogan told reporters Saturday.
Turkey rejects Sweden, Finland's aspirations for NATO arguing that these two states house persons who are linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Turkey considers a terrorist organisation. But Ankara has also said that these states in 2019 have banned arms exports to Turkey.
They're not honest. We cannot repeat the mistake we have made in the past regarding NATO states supporting such terrorists, after NATO is the security organisation”, he said.
Sweden and Finland have said they condemn terrorisation and have welcomed the opportunity for the issue to co-ordinate with Ankara.
All NATO member states must vote in order for these two Nordic states to become part of the alliance. Helsinki and Stockholm applied for NATO after the launch of Ukraine's Russian occupation.
Turkey, which has the second largest army in the alliance, has said it will not allow their membership in the alliance unless several steps are taken, including lifting restrictions on the sale of arms to Ankara.
Erdogan added that on 30 May he will hold a telephone conversation with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine. / REL/
