Erdogan strongly opposes Sweden's and Finland's accession to NATO
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said he will "say no" to Sweden's and Finland's NATO membership.
As Censor.NET reports, this was reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to News Sky.
"We will resolutely continue our policy. We have told our allies that we will say 'no' to the membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO," he said in an interview.
According to Erdogan, Turkey opposes Sweden's membership to a greater extent, and Finland's to a lesser extent, because of their position on members and supporters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (KWP), which Turkey views as terrorists. At the same time, the KWP is recognized as a terrorist organization not only in Turkey, but also in the United States, most European countries and at the EU level.
It will be recalled that the Turkish conflict with the Kurdistan Workers' Party has been going on for several decades. Kurdistan is a region in four countries at once: Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. About 30 million Kurds live there. The KWP is a left-wing movement formed in Turkey in the late 1970s in the midst of clashes between Turkish ultranationalist and opposition left groups. In 1984, confrontation between Turkish authorities and Kurdish rebels escalated into armed conflict. It continues intermittently.
It should be noted that Turkey's approval of Finland's and Sweden's application to join the Alliance is crucial, as NATO takes decisions by consensus. Thus, each of the 30 member states has the right to veto the application for membership of another country.
Нагадаємо, Туреччина виступила проти вступу Фінляндії та Швеції до НАТО унаслідок їх підтримки Робітничої партії Курдистану
Своєю чергою генсек НАТО Столтенберг заявив про можливість щодо вступу Фінляндії та Швеції до Альянсу, і зазначив, що Анкара не має наміру блокувати процес.
It will be recalled that Turkey opposed the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO due to their support of the Kurdistan Workers' Party.
In turn, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg said that a compromise could be reached quickly with Turkey on the accession of Finland and Sweden to the Alliance, and said that Ankara does not intend to block the process.
