Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated that Ankara might agree to Finland joining NATO, without agreeing to a similar request from Sweden.
Erdogan criticized Sweden’s refusal to hand over dozens of people whom Turkey says are linked to armed Kurdish groups.
He said: “If you are determined to join NATO, you will return these terrorists to us.”
The Turkish president’s comments come days following the suspension of talks on Sweden and Finland’s request to join the alliance, once morest the backdrop of a series of controversial demonstrations in Stockholm, including a demonstration during which a copy of the Qur’an was burned in front of the Turkish embassy.
Many Arab and Islamic countries condemned the burning of the Qur’an.
Swedish officials also criticized the demonstrations, but defended the country’s free speech laws.
After decades of adopting a policy of military non-alignment, Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
All NATO members must agree to their requests, but Turkey and Hungary have so far refused to ratify the move.
In his speech, Erdogan indicated that Turkey might “give a different response regarding Finland’s request,” adding that “Sweden will be shocked.”
“We gave Sweden a list of 120 people, and told them to hand over these terrorists… If you don’t hand them over, I’m sorry for that,” Erdogan said.
There are more expatriate Kurds in Sweden than in Finland. Its talks with Ankara regarding joining NATO appear to be heated.
Turkey called on Sweden to distance itself from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider a “terrorist group”.
image copyright The Swedish Solidarity Commitee for Rojava
An effigy of Erdogan during a demonstration in Stockholm
In response, Sweden agreed to a constitutional amendment allowing it to create stricter anti-terror laws that Turkey had demanded.
Sweden and Finland also lifted a ban on selling military equipment to Turkey, imposed following Ankara’s military intervention in Syria in 2019.
But Turkey has sharply criticized Sweden over the recent protests in Stockholm, including one by a Kurdish support group that hung an effigy of Erdogan from a lamppost.
Earlier this month, Erdogan said that Turkish elections might be held on May 14.
Since then, Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto has indicated that the “pressure” associated with the upcoming elections has caused discussions within Turkey to “heat up”, and that the negotiations should pause.
The diplomat also stressed that his country should join at the same time as Sweden, which marked a reversal from his earlier suggestion that Finland might have to join without waiting for a decision on Stockholm’s request.