Following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s drastic statements on Sweden’s NATO membership, Finland has for the first time opened up to a possible alliance entry without its Nordic partner. Finland could be forced to consider joining NATO without its old ally Sweden, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said Tuesday.
Of course, for the security of the two countries, it is still the “absolute first option” to continue together, he told Finnish radio station Yle. However, one must be prepared to reassess the situation if the Swedish NATO application proves to be stalling in the long run. It is still too early to comment on this.
“A Break Is Required”
In an interview with Reuters news agency, Haavisto said a pause in talks with Turkey would be appropriate. “A timeout is needed before we return to the tripartite talks and see where we stand when the dust has settled on the current situation. So no conclusions should be drawn yet,” said the minister. there will be a break for a few weeks.” At the same time, Haavisto stressed that he saw no reason to promote Finland’s accession to NATO without Sweden alone.
Ice age after Koran burning in Sweden
After the burning of the Koran by an Islamophobic provocateur in Stockholm, Erdogan said on Monday that Sweden could not count on Turkey’s support for NATO membership. “If you don’t show respect for Turkey or the faith of the Muslims, then you can’t get any support from us in terms of NATO,” it said from Ankara. Haavisto said such protests play with the security of Finland and Sweden.
NATO member Turkey has been blocking the admission of Sweden and Finland for months. In particular, she accuses Sweden of supporting “terrorist organisations” such as the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK and demands the extradition of a number of people Turkey considers terrorists. All 30 NATO members must ratify applications for membership, 28 have already done so – only Turkey and Hungary are still missing.
Source: Krone
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