Erdogan spoke of “state television”, apparently referring to SVT in Sweden and Yle in Finland.
Turkey cannot accept Finnish and Swedish NATO membership until they end television interviews with ‘terrorist leaders’, says Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The latest news from the president was reported by the Turkish News Agency Anadolu.
“Turkey cannot support Sweden’s NATO application as long as its state television shows interviews with terrorist leaders, the same is true for Finland,” Erdoğan told the news agency.
It is still unclear what the interviews meant by Erdoğan’s comment.
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet notes that in Sweden the state does not control television, as in Turkey and Russia. However, Erdoğan probably referred to SVT in Sweden and the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation.
Erdogan met with the president of Venezuela on Wednesday Nicolás Maduron. After the meeting, the presidents held a joint press conference in which Erdoğan also sidelined the NATO issue in Finland and Sweden.
“NATO is a security organization, not a terrorist organization,” Erdoğan said.
President Sauli Niinistö told IS in a previous statement in an interviewthat Erdoğan’s demands are specifically about terrorism. For example, arms export restrictions in Finland and Sweden are mainly a side issue for Turkey.
According to Turkey, Finland and Sweden protect people who are considered terrorists by Turkey. Turkey, for example, has demanded that the wanted persons representing the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, be returned to Turkey.
Instead in his meeting with the authoritarian Maduro, Erdoğan praised, saying that Venezuela is one of Turkey’s “most important partners” in Latin America. The countries said they were intensifying their cooperation.
According to Erdoğan, Turkey and Venezuela have “similar views on many global issues”. He also said Turkey opposes Venezuela’s international sanctions.
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