Officials from Finland and Sweden have met with their Turkish counterparts to hold talks regarding the two Nordic countries' bids to apply for NATO membership, which the latter has expressed its disagreement with.
Last week, the Finland and Sweden officials submitted their written applications to join the Western military alliance. The situation represents one of the biggest geopolitical ramifications of Russia's three-month-old war in Ukraine and could potentially rewrite Europe's security map.
Finland, Sweden's NATO Applications
Turkey has expressed opposition to the two countries' membership in the alliance due to grievances with Sweden's, and to a lesser extent, Finland's perceived support of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and other entities that Turkey views as security threats.
The PKK, which is listed as a "terror organization" by several of Turkey's allies, has waged a decades-long fight against the nation, a conflict that has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people.
Furthermore, the Turkish government accuses Finland and Sweden of imposing arms export restrictions on it and refusing to extradite suspected "terrorists." The country's objections have dampened Helsinki's and Stockholm's hopes for joining the NATO alliance quickly amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, as per Aljazeera.
On Wednesday, the Finnish and Swedish delegations met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, and deputy foreign minister Sedat Onal. The Swedish delegation was led by state secretary Oscar Stenstrom while foreign minister undersecretary Jukka Salovaara headed the Finnish delegation.
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This week, Turkey listed five "concrete assurances" that it was demanding from Sweden in exchange for the latter's membership with NATO. The list includes what it said was the "termination of political support for terrorism," "elimination of the source of terrorism financing," and the "cessation of arms support" to the banned PKK and a Syrian Kurdish armed group affiliated with it.
According to the Associated Press, after the talks in Ankara that lasted about five hours, Kalin said in a news conference that Turkey had made it very clear that it had security concerns regarding Finland and Sweden's NATO membership applications. He argued that if the concrete steps in a certain time frame were not met, the process would not progress.
Turkey's Demands for Concrete Steps
Kalin said Turkey's proposal to lift arms export limits was met with a "positive attitude" by the Finnish and Swedish delegations. The official added that talks would continue once the Nordic governments had responded to Turkey's other demands.
Furthermore, Turkey expects the extradition of 28 "terrorism" suspects from Sweden and 12 from Finland. Kalin added that there was no "legal or judicial basis" not to extradite the suspected individuals.
In the following meeting with European Council President Charles Michel in Stockholm, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said that her country wanted to "clarify" claims that have been floating around during the discussions with Turkey. She said that they do not send money or weapons to terrorist organizations.
During a Wednesday news conference with the Estonian prime minister, Andersson said, "In these times, it is important to strengthen our security." The official added that Sweden has a "constructive dialogue" with Turkey and noted that Stockholm was "eager to sort out issues and misunderstandings and questions," ABC News reported.
