Finland calls for break in talks with Turkey over Nordic countries' NATO bid

Finland's foreign minister demanded a few-week break in Finland and Sweden's talks with Turkey about joining NATO. This development comes as a series of protests erupted in Sweden, including the burning of the Quran by the leader of the far-right Danish political party Stram Kurs outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, which angered the Turkish President.

Haavisto said that protests against Turkey had put a pause on the progress of the negotiations. Notably, Turkey is already a NATO member, but after the series of "anti-Turkish and anti-Islamic actions" taken by Sweden, Turkey's President Erdogan said it would not support Stockholm's entry into NATO. He said the Swedish government's take on Rasmus Paludan's Quran burning incident was "completely unacceptable," reported BBC.

However, this isn't the first time that talks between the countries have halted, as earlier, Turkish President Erdogan had said that Finland and Sweden must extradite 130 terrorists to Turkey if they wanted Ankara's support for their NATO bids.

Haavisto said that the Nordic countries NATO bid would be completed and Finland has no need to rush negotiations. The diplomat also insisted that his country would join the bloc even without joining the military alliance with Sweden after Turkey announced that it would not support Sweden's NATO bid. After the Russians invaded Ukraine, Finland and Sweden, along with the war-ravaged country, submitted their applications to become NATO members. Both nations have vowed to become the bloc's members simultaneously but protests in Sweden against Turkey is now delaying the progress. 

Furthermore, Turkey has also demanded that Sweden must stay away from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US, and the EU. Also, Erdogan has demanded the deportation of his government's critics, including Kurds whom it claims, are terrorists.

Why did Turkey warn to withdraw its support for Sweden's NATO bid?

Recently, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar warned that Ankara could veto Sweden's membership in NATO if Swedish authorities continued to show the same behaviour towards Turkey. "If things go this way, our attitude will be very clear and precise," said Akar. He further stressed that Paludan's action was a violation of the tripartite memorandum, which Sweden signed to prevent the propaganda of terrorist organisations. Furthermore, Turkey this week unilaterally cancelled the upcoming visit of Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson to Ankara, where the two leaders were supposed to discuss Sweden's NATO membership application.

Image: AP