Turkey “sets conditions” to accept Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO

Those requests are Bloomberg citing sources from “3 officials Turkey” revealed on May 17. Accordingly, Ankara wants NATO and two future members, Finland and Sweden, to lift sanctions imposed on Turkey.

“Turkey is sanctioned by NATO for purchasing the Russian S-400 missile defense system. Because of this, Finland and Sweden have also imposed trade restrictions on Turkey” – radio station RT of Russia explained.

Finland and Sweden on May 15 officially announced their intention to join NATO.

For the wishes of Finland and Sweden to become a reality, they must be approved by all 30 current NATO member states.

Turkey alone said it would not agree with Helsinki and Stockholm as the two countries “do not have a clear and unequivocal stance” against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front (DHKP/) C) – groups that Ankara considers a terrorist organization.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Photo: AA

Sweden and Finland have a history of granting political asylum to people from Turkey, especially the Kurds, which Ankara considers unacceptable.

Turkish officials demanded that Sweden and Finland “publicly condemn not only the PKK but also its affiliates before being allowed to join the bloc”.

However, according to sources of Bloomberg Turkey’s list of conditions is even longer.

“Turkey wants to be brought back to the F-35 advanced aircraft program, which was banned after it bought the S-400 missile defense system from Russia. It also asked to buy dozens of machines from the US. fly the F-16 fighter and upgrade its existing fleet” – Bloomberg cited sources emphasize.

In addition, Ankara also wants the US to lift sanctions that Washington has imposed on it because of the contract to buy S-400 missiles from Russia.

The sources have also denied reports that Turkey’s objection to Finland and Sweden’s membership of NATO in any way is “related to Ankara’s relations with Moscow”.

Ankara’s demands were revealed in the context on May 16, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that “Turkey is a valuable ally and all security concerns need to be addressed”.

Russia had previously warned Helsinki and Stockholm against joining NATO and vowed to respond appropriately if there were threats.