Turkey may agree to Finland’s accession to NATO

Erdogan: Sweden will be shocked when we send a different message on Finland (Getty)

hinted the Turkish president Recep Tayyip ErdoganToday, Sunday, he indicated that Turkey may agree to Finland joining NATO, without making a similar initiative towards Sweden.

Erdogan said, in response to a question regarding the aforementioned two countries in northern Europe’s candidacy to join the alliance, during a televised meeting: “When necessary, we may send a different message with regard to Finland. Sweden will be shocked when we send a different message with regard to Finland.”

And she was Turkey has postponed “indefinitely” a meeting with Sweden and Finland on their accession to NATO (NATO), according to what was reported by official Turkish media, last Tuesday.

According to press reports, quoting diplomatic sources, the talks were scheduled to take place in early February.

For its part, the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation “TRT” quoted Turkish diplomatic sources as saying that the meeting, which was scheduled to take place in Brussels in February, was postponed at the request of Ankara.

A spokesman for Erdogan said earlier this month that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg would also attend the meeting.

A source in the Turkish presidency said that Turkey did not cancel the meeting, but postponed it. The source did not specify the date to which the meeting was postponed.

The presidency declined to make an official statement on the postponement.

Earlier, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto considered that his country should study the possibility of joining NATO without Sweden, in the first situation of its kind, following Erdogan’s refusal to give the green light to Stockholm’s candidacy.

Haavisto told the public television network “Yele”, according to “Agence France Presse”, that a joint accession of the two northern European countries remains “the first option”, but “we must of course assess the situation, study whether something that happened will prevent Sweden from moving forward in the long term.” On the other hand, he said, “It is still too early to take a stand.”

This comes following Erdogan announced, last Monday, that Sweden, a candidate for membership in NATO, might no longer count on Turkey’s “support”, following it allowed the organization of an anti-Turkish demonstration in Stockholm.

(AFP, The New Arab)