Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that his country would consider evaluating Finland’s NATO bid separately from Sweden. Turkey has so far threatened to veto offers from the two countries after the burning of a Koran in Stockholm sparked outrage in Ankara.
Turkey’s foreign minister told reporters in Ankara that Turkey was ready to individually assess Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership.
Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey could assess Finnish and Swedish NATO candidacies separately.
Cavusoglu added that such an approach made sense, given that one country’s candidacy was more problematic than the other. The Turkish foreign minister’s comments echo President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement on Sunday, suggesting Finland would have little difficulty in joining.
Erdogan also reiterated his request to Stockholm to extradite 120 people whom Turkey considers to be terrorists.
Erdogan accuses the Swedish government of allowing his country to become a sanctuary for terrorist organizations fighting Turkey. Swedish officials insist that extradition requests fall within the jurisdiction of the courts.
Turkish-Swedish relations deteriorated further in January after far-right protesters were allowed to burn a Koran in Stockholm, sparking outrage in Ankara. But Finnish-Turkish relations have strengthened this month, with Helsinki allowing the sale of specialist steel to the Turkish defense industry, ending Finland’s military embargo on Ankara on human rights grounds. .
Ilhan Uzgel, a political analyst at news portal Kisa Dalga, says Erdogan is seeking to maximize NATO concessions to enable his enlargement, given the upcoming presidential elections due to be held in May.
It is not as a strategic decision, but rather as a lever that Erdogan needs in domestic politics. But it can be solved. Under pressure, Erdogan makes concessions, that’s for sure. But he must get something. He learned over the years that anything can be turned into currency. A question of transnationalism that he masters very well. So he knows how to do good business. I mean he learned it in 20 years [in power]Uzgel said.
So far, Finland and Sweden have pledged to join NATO together. But earlier this month, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said Helsinki could reconsider that stance if Sweden is permanently blocked from the military alliance.
Asli Aydintasbas of the Brookings Institution says Washington’s role could be key to breaking the impasse.
The United States has important maps. The question has been whether some of his political goals can be achieved by actually keeping the relationship relatively frozen until the Turkish elections and then considering a reset. What we are seeing is Turkey is frustrated, feeling it is not getting enough attention from Washington, Aydintasbas said.
Ankara has numerous demands from Washington and ongoing disputes. Yet analysts suggest that with elections just months away, in which opinion polls indicate that Erdogan is far from certain to win, Sweden and Finland, as well as NATO, are likely to be watching closely. next elections.