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| Turkey's President and leader of the Justice and Development (AK) Party Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech during his party’s group meeting at the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) in Ankara, on May 18, 2022. © Adem Altan, AFP |
International Military - The polemic of Sweden and Finland planning to join NATO is still a hot topic of discussion to this day. The problem does not only come from Russia, which is angry, until it is known to have sent threats related to the wishes of the two countries. However, problems also came from one of the NATO countries, Turkey, which stated that it could not provide positive comments regarding the wishes of Sweden and Finland.
Previously, Turkish President Erdogan said in a statement that he did not agree with Sweden and Finland's desire to join NATO. Erdogan may feel worried and don't want to make the wrong decision later. Another possibility is that Turkey considers the Kurdistan Party (PKK) a terrorist.
Quoted from the Al Jazeera page, Turkey has long claimed that the Nordic countries, especially Sweden, have a strong Turkish immigrant community. The Nordic countries are thought to have harbored previously outlawed Kurdish rebels.
Turkey's disagreement will certainly be an obstacle for Sweden and Finland to join NATO. However, Erdogan stated that he could agree to Sweden and Finland joining NATO if the two countries clearly demonstrated that they would stand in solidarity with Ankara on fundamental issues.
Including the war against terrorism.
Erdogan's statement was conveyed directly to the head of NATO Jens Stotenberg via telephone conversation. Then, Stotenberg reported his conversation with Erdogan on social media Twitter.
Stotenberg said of "our precious ally" as well as the importance of "NATO's Open Doors". "We agree that the security concerns of all allies must be taken into account and talks continue to find a solution," he wrote.
As for Erdogan's concerns, Stotenberg said that he was currently looking for a deal for a better move.
Quoted from france24.com, Erdoan also refused to host delegations from Sweden and Finland. Regarding this, Erdoan said that he had had a telephone conversation with the two leaders of the country. The results of the conversation have been conveyed by the Prime Minister of Sweden, Magdalena Andersson. "Swedish political, financial and arms support to terrorist organizations must end," he said
Turkey apparently expects Sweden to take real and serious steps. So that it can eliminate the worries that are being felt by Turkey. Not only that, Erdogan also asked Sweden to pay the same attention to the PKK and its branches in Iraq and Syria.
It should be noted beforehand that the PKK has indeed launched an insurgency against Turkey since 1984. So they are blacklisted and referred to as a "terrorist organization" by Turkey and its Western allies.