Turkey initially blocked the start of NATO accession talks with Finland and Sweden. An AKP-affiliated newspaper is now announcing a “10-point NATO manifesto from Ankara to Finland and Sweden”.
Turkey had previously made it clear several times that it currently does not want to agree to Finland and Sweden joining NATO – and on Wednesday blocked the start of accession talks with the two countries for the time being. Sweden and Finland had officially applied for membership of the military alliance in the morning.
Now Ankara apparently wants to present ten conditions for NATO accession to the two Scandinavian countries. This was reported by the major Turkish daily newspaper ” Sabah ” on Wednesday. Title: “10-point NATO manifesto from Ankara to Finland and Sweden”. The daily newspaper is considered to be close to the government.
The ten conditions are not specifically listed in the article. However, some things can be read that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already called for. Literally it says: “Sweden and Finland must clarify their position towards the PKK and its offshoots and call them terrorist organizations.” Also: “Ankara will demand that the NATO accession candidates avoid contacts with the PKK leadership and the activities of Stop the movement of the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen”. And: “In addition, Ankara will demand that Stockholm and Helsinki speed up the extradition procedures for members of the organizations banned in Turkey.”
This is the same line that President Recep Erdogan had already announced. He made approval of Sweden and Finland joining NATO dependent on approaching his country on security issues, he said recently in a speech to his conservative Islamic governing party, the AKP, in Ankara. For Turkey, NATO expansion goes hand in hand with respect for its sensitivities.
Sweden and Finland wanted to continue supporting “terrorist organizations”, but at the same time Turkey’s approval for NATO membership, Erdogan criticized. “That’s a contradiction, to say the least.”
Erdogan accused Sweden of refusing to extradite 30 “terrorists”. “NATO is a security association, a security organization. In this respect, we cannot say yes to making this security body unsafe,” said Erdogan. Erdogan describes supporters of the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK, which is also considered a terrorist organization in the USA and Europe, as “terrorists”. However, Turkey also regards the Kurdish militia YPG in Syria as a terrorist organization – for the USA, on the other hand, the YPG in Syria is an ally.
In addition, the Turkish government has urged Sweden and Finland to extradite suspected followers of the Islamic preacher Fetullah Gülen, whom Turkey suspects are in the two countries. Turkey blames Gülen for the 2016 coup attempt.
According to the newspaper, the final list of demands will also include “a joint initiative to establish a mechanism to support regular consultations and close cooperation with Turkey in the fight against terrorism” and “blocking of funds of terrorist organizations and freezing of their bank accounts” in both Finland as well as Sweden include.
When exactly the specific list of demands will be published is still unclear.
