Erdogan: Turkey will respond positively to Finland’s application to NATO with its adequate position

ANKARA, 1 February – RIA Novosti. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara would respond positively to Helsinki’s application for NATO membership if Finland took a sufficient position.

On Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said he did not see decisive steps from Sweden to fulfill the commitments Turkey made to Ankara on NATO membership. On the same day, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara views Finland’s NATO membership favorably, but not Sweden’s.

Finland and Sweden applied to the NATO Secretary General to join the alliance on the backdrop of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine on May 18, 2022. To date, Sweden and Finland’s applications to NATO have not been approved by only two of the 30 countries, Hungary and Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier that Turkey could take a decision that would “shock” Sweden on Finland’s NATO membership.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said earlier that the kingdom’s NATO accession process was suspended after the actions related to the burning of the Qur’an, but he hoped that an agreement could be reached with Ankara at the foreign ministers’ summit. alliance countries in Vilnius in July. A source in Ankara told RIA Novosti that the tripartite mechanism for Sweden and Finland’s membership process to NATO has been suspended indefinitely at the request of the Turkish side.

Previously, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto allowed the proceeding of the procedure to approve the country’s application to the North Atlantic Alliance separate from Sweden, but later retracted her words. Çavuşoğlu said that Turkey had not received a proposal for a separate NATO membership application from Finland from Sweden.