On a key day, Turkey reaffirms its rejection of Sweden and Finland joining NATO: “Don’t even bother”

BRUSSELS.– The discordant note with the wide support that Sweden and Finland have received has been placed Turkey, it seems not be very willing give your approval to this NATO enlargementas the Turkish president reiterated this Wednesday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who even asked the delegations of both Nordic countries not to even bother trying to convince them.

The Turkish president maintains that Sweden and Finland harbor people who are allegedly linked to terrorist groupsspecifically the militant group the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the followers of Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016.

“We have the sensitivity to protect our borders from attacks by terrorist organizations,” Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling AK party in parliament on Wednesday.

Erdogan remarked that NATO allies have never supported Turkey in its fight against Kurdish militant groupsincluding the Syrian Kurdish YPG, which Ankara also considers a terrorist group closely linked to the PKK. “NATO expansion only makes sense to us in proportion to the respect that will be shown to our sensibilities,” settled.

Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber reported Monday that Sweden and Finland had not granted approval for the repatriation of 33 people requested by Turkey.

“So they don’t return the terrorists to us but ask us to join NATO? NATO is an entity for security, an organization for security. Therefore, we cannot say ‘yes’ to this security organization if we are deprived of it”, said the Turkish president.

Erdogan went so far as to suggest that Finland and Sweden not even bother sending delegations to negotiate. ”They say they will come to Turkey on Monday. Will they come to persuade us? Excuse us, but do not bother”, he expressed.

However, the Swedish ambassador believes that this seemingly bitter reticence will not prevent him from achieving his aspirations, due to the strong support from the rest of the Alliance. “We have taken note of all the comments. You have to take them seriously, but nor fear that this may prevent our entry“, has said.

In this sense, he believes that Ankara’s “many comments” on this matter make it “difficult to know what his exact opinion is” and he trusts that progress will be made taking advantage of the fact that the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu; the Finnish president, Sauli Niinisto; and the Swedish prime minister, Magdalena Andersson will coincide these days in Washington.

Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, will meet today with his Turkish counterpart in New York in a new effort to clarify Ankara’s position. Underlining the sensitivity of the delicate diplomacy required to deal with a potentially recalcitrant ally, the Biden administration seems to have made the decision to ignore Erdogan. Instead, the administration is focusing on comments made in closed-door meetings by lower-ranking Turkish officials.

“It is not for us to speak on behalf of the Turkish government,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said repeatedly on Tuesday, in response to multiple questions about what position the United States understands Turkey to have and whether the country has demanded something from the United States in exchange for accepting the accession of Finland and Sweden.

What is at stake for the United States and its NATO partners is the opportunity to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by strengthening and expanding the alliance.just the opposite of what President Vladimir Putin hoped to achieve by starting the war.

But Erdogan’s suggestions that he could derail Swedish and Finnish accession hopes also highlight a possible weakness that Putin has tried to exploit in the past: the unwieldy nature of the consensus-driven alliance, in which a single member can block actions supported by the other 29.

Initially seen in Washington and other NATO capitals as a minor, easily resolved distraction to the alliance’s enlargement process in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Erdogan’s verbal volleys towards Finland and Sweden are drawing more concern as the two Nordic nations submitted formal requests on Wednesday in hopes of joining as quickly as possible

Even if they are overcome, the objections of Turkey, which is the only one of the 30 NATO members that has raised reservations about the expansion so far, could delay the accession of Finland and Sweden to the alliance for monthsespecially if other nations follow suit by seeking concessions for their votes.

The accession process usually takes between eight and twelve months, but NATO wants to move quickly given the Russian threat hanging over the heads of the two countries.

Erdogan, who has become increasingly authoritarian over the years, is known to be an unpredictable leader and there have been times when his words have been in clear contradiction to what Turkish diplomats or other senior officials have said. of his government.

“I do not exclude a possible disconnection between Turkish diplomats and Erdogan. There have been examples of that disconnect in the past.”said Barcin Yinan, a journalist and commentator on Turkish foreign policy. He said there was a “disconnect” between Erdogan and the Foreign Ministry last year, when the Turkish leader threatened to expel 10 Western diplomats, including the US ambassador, whom he accused of meddling in Turkey’s judiciary. .

For example, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Berlin on Sunday, following talks with Turkish officials, that “Turkey has made it clear that its intention is not to block entry.” Meanwhile, Blinken and other foreign ministers, including Germany’s top diplomat Annalena Baerbock, expressed absolute confidence that all NATO members, including Turkey, would welcome the two newcomers.

However, on Monday Erdogan surprised many by redoubling his criticism of Finland and Swedenaccusing them of supporting Kurdish militants and imposing restrictions on military sales to Turkey.

“Neither of the two countries has an open and clear position against terrorist organizations,” Erdoğan said. “We cannot say ‘yes’ to those who impose sanctions on Turkey, to joining NATO, which is a security organization.”

Gonul Tol, director of the Turkey program at the Middle East Institute, said that although Erdogan usually speaks harshly, in the end he tends to reconsider and do the “rational” thing. “Erdogan is unpredictable. But at the same time, he is a very pragmatic actor, ”he pointed out and clarified that Erdogan likes to negotiate and presses with “maximalistic demands” during the negotiations. “He ends up settling for much less than that”.

He pointed out that Erdogan’s grievances with Western countries in relation to the Kurds are not new and that tensions between Turkey and the United States over military supplies go back a long way.

After being excluded from the F-35 advanced fighter aircraft development program after purchasing a Russian air defense system, Turkey has been pressuring the United States to sell it new F-16 fighters or, at the very least, to renew its current fleet.. Discussions on both issues are taking place in Washington this week and some officials believe that, although they are not related to the issue of NATO enlargement, resolutions on any of them could help persuade Erdogan to drop his objections.

Tol agreed: “This comes at a time when he is trying to mend ties with Washington, when Turkey is involved in negotiations to convince Congress to sell F-16s to Turkey. It is a time when Erdogan is trying to burnish his image as a valued ally. And it is a time when the invasion of Ukraine has given him the opportunity to approach Western capitals. So, in this context, It would be a very dramatic step if Turkey actually vetoed the application from Finland and Sweden.”

Agencies AFP, AP and Reuters