ANKARA —
Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, who has threatened to block Finland and
Sweden from joining NATO, urged the alliance’s members on Wednesday to
“respect” Ankara’s concerns about the two countries, which Turkey accuses of
harboring terrorists.
اضافة اعلان
“Our only
expectation from
NATO allies is... to first understand our sensitivity,
respect, and finally support it,” Erdogan told his party’s lawmakers in
parliament.
Finland and Sweden
on Wednesday submitted a joint application to join NATO as Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine forces a dramatic reappraisal of security in Europe.
Erdogan accused Stockholm
of providing safe haven to members of the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) designated as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.
“We asked them to
extradite 30 terrorists but they refused to do so,” he said.
“You will not send
back the terrorists to us and then ask our support for your NATO membership.
... We cannot say ‘yes’ to making this security organization less secure,” he
added.
Sweden has also
imposed embargoes on arms sales to Turkey since 2019 over Ankara’s invasion of
Syria.
“We are sensitive
about protecting our borders against attacks from terror organizations,” said
Erdogan, calling on NATO allies to support Turkey’s “legitimate” Syria
operations or at least not to stand in their way.
The Turkish leader
also said he was not warm to Swedish or Finnish delegations’ request to visit
Ankara for consultations.
“They want to come
on Monday. They shouldn’t bother. There’s no need,” he said.
Later Wednesday,
Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin had a series of telephone
conversations with advisers to the heads of state and foreign ministries of
Germany, Sweden, Finland, the UK, and the US, according to the Turkish
presidency.
During these talks,
Kalin indicated that Turkey was waiting for “concrete steps” to address its
concerns about its national security”.
In the event of
“non-fulfillment of Turkey’s expectations”, the accession process of the two
Nordic countries “cannot move forward,” Kalin added.
“Sweden’s membership in NATO cannot be done until Turkey’s
well-founded concerns are dispelled. If you want NATO’s second army to defend
you in the event of aggression, you must accept this reality,” Turkish
presidency director of communications Fahrettin Altun said in an opinion piece
published on Wednesday in the Swedish daily Expressen.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
