Consideration of the applications of Sweden and Finland to join the NATO alliance separately is possible, but it would complicate the planning of national defense for Helsinki. This was announced on Wednesday, January 18, by Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto in a conversation with the agency Anadolu on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“From Finland’s point of view, there are also proposals for a separate consideration of the applications for NATO membership of Helsinki and Stockholm. But with regard to NATO security and defense planning, it is very difficult to take Sweden off the map and plan, for example, Finnish defense without Sweden,” Haavisto explained.
The minister noted that Sweden, like Finland, is doing everything possible in the fight against terrorism.
Earlier, on January 16, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that relations between Turkey and Sweden could deteriorate if Stockholm does not take action against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which the Turks consider terrorist.
On the same day, Bloomberg reported that the United States is trying to put pressure on Turkey on the issue of Sweden and Finland joining NATO. In particular, Washington warned Ankara that it might not receive a batch of American F-16 fighters if Turkey does not support countries’ applications for NATO membership.
To include Finland and Sweden in NATO, their candidacy must be approved by all member countries of the alliance. At the moment, applications have been approved by 28 countries out of 30, except for Hungary and Turkey. At the same time, Budapest declared its readiness to complete the process of two new countries joining NATO.
In June 2022, Turkey presented 10 conditions for lifting the veto on NATO membership of Sweden and Finland. One of the points was a proposal to support Turkey in its fight against terrorist organizations recognized by Ankara, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO on May 18, 2022. At the end of June, members of the bloc officially invited countries to join the North Atlantic Alliance and agreed to sign accession protocols.
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