Both European countries have abandoned their traditional neutrality and intend to join the Atlantic Alliance in the face of the Russian threat, while Turkey opposes it, citing the Kurdish presence in both Scandinavian nations

Erdogan does not support Finland and Sweden joining NATO

photo_camera PHOTO/TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS OFFICE via AFP - Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that his government is not in favour of Finland and Sweden joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), arguing that the two Scandinavian nations harbour Kurdish "terrorist organisations".

Sweden and Finland set aside their traditional political neutrality and expressed their intention to join the Atlantic Alliance in the face of the threat posed by Russia after the completed invasion of Ukrainian territory under the pretext of denazifying the neighbouring country and because of their interpretation of the alleged threat posed by the possible presence of NATO elements on the borders closest to Russian territory. 

There is widespread support for the Finnish and Swedish nations to join NATO, but there are dissenting voices, such as Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Finland and Sweden harbour "terrorist organisations" in reference to Kurdish groups based there in principle. 

El secretario general de la OTAN, Jens Stoltenberg, y el presidente de Finlandia, Sauli Niinisto

"We are following the developments regarding Sweden and Finland, but we do not have a favourable opinion," Erdogan told the media in Istanbul, as reported by the AP. "Scandinavian countries are guest houses for terrorist organisations," Erdogan said, according to Reuters. "They are even members of parliament in some countries. It is not possible for us to be in favour", as reported by Axios. 

Turkey considers Kurdish groups to be terrorist entities and accuses them of carrying out attacks in the south of the Eurasian country, an argument it uses for its persecution at its borders and even beyond, This is the argument it uses for its persecution within its borders and even beyond them, such as the harassment it carries out inside Syria with military interventions justified by supposed actions to eliminate this alleged terrorist threat, or also the political persecution it carries out within the Ottoman country itself with the police and judicial persecution of elements considered close to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, including members of other parties such as the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), a pro-Kurdish party that has been harassed by the government and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

NATO is a military defence mechanism that fights for the security of the North Atlantic and Turkey is of great importance within the organisation because its army is the second largest by volume within the Atlantic Alliance itself, behind only the US military. 

NATO membership requires the support of all 30 NATO member states, and Turkey would now oppose the Swedish and Finnish requests, despite NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's indication that the countries would be "welcomed with open arms" and quickly integrated into NATO. 

La primera ministra finlandesa, Sanna Marin, el canciller alemán, Olaf Scholz, y la primera ministra sueca, Magdalena Andersson

Finland's top leaders already officially expressed their support for NATO membership "without delay" on Thursday, while Sweden's ruling party is expected to do the same on Sunday. Finland's president and prime minister announced last day that they support the application for NATO membership, triggering a procedure that would mean the ninth enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance since its founding in 1949.

With the situation now open with Turkey's negative stance, the Swedish and Finnish foreign ministers said they would meet with their Turkish counterparts to discuss the issue at a NATO ministerial meeting in Berlin at the weekend.

Sweden is home to a sizeable Kurdish population and like other Western countries has supported the Syrian Democratic Forces fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey crossed the Turkish-Syrian border into northern Syrian territory on the pretext of pursuing Kurdish elements considered terrorists, thus intervening in the civil war raging in the Middle Eastern country. 

Turkey has been fighting armed Kurdish insurgents for decades and launched an operation against Syrian Kurds in 2019 to create a "free zone" in northeastern Syria after former President Trump pulled US troops out of the area, a controversial US decision because it meant abandoning the Kurdish forces that helped defeat Daesh in the area.

Reunión del Consejo del Atlántico Norte

In the face of Swedish and Finnish aspirations, the Russian Foreign Ministry has already warned that it might respond with "military-technical" measures to protect its national security.

Notably, Finland's NATO membership would greatly increase the length of the Alliance's borders with Russia. Sweden is expected to make an announcement on the NATO application on Sunday. This would mean a modification of Europe's security ecosystem that appears to be unpalatable to Vladimir Putin's Russia. 

Erdogan's pronouncement could be interpreted as a favourable Turkish gesture to Vladimir Putin despite the Ottoman presence in NATO. There has been controversy in the past over contacts between Russia and Turkey to exchange the Russian S-400 air defence system, which did not go down well within the Atlantic Alliance.

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