Turkish President Erdogan asserts Ankara will not support Finland, Sweden joining NATO

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday, 13 May, avered that his country is “not favourable” to Finland and Sweden's decision to join NATO. Erdogan asserted that Turkey is following developments concerning Sweden and Finland and does not have a "favourable opinion," reported AP. He, however, did not mention if Ankara planned to thwart the attempts by Sweden and Finland to join NATO.

“We are following developments concerning Sweden and Finland, but we are not of a favorable opinion,” Erdogan said as per AP. 

Justifying his opposition to the decision, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that Sweden and other Scandinavian nations offer support to Kurdish militants and others and Turkey consider them, terrorists. Erdogan admitted that they did not wish to make the similar mistake that they had made when they agreed to readmit Greece into NATO’s military wing. According to Erdogan, the decision had resulted in Greece having an "attitude against Turkey" with the support of NATO, as per the AP report. After Russia's military offensive in Ukraine on February 24, both Finland and Sweden have been mulling whether to join NATO. 

Finnish leaders on Thursday, May 13, expressed readiness to apply for NATO membership, as per AP. The announcement regarding the country planning to join NATO was made by Finland President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin. Sauli Niinisto and Sanna Marin, in a joint statement, said that Finland "must" apply for the membership in NATO without delay and expressed hope that the measures needed to make the decision will be made within days. The two leaders further said that NATO's membership will bolster the security of Finland and the country would further "strengthen the entire defence alliance."

Russia reacts to Finland's decision to join NATO

Meanwhile, it is pertinent to note that Sweden will make a decision on whether to join NATO in the coming days. After Finland's announcement regarding its plans to join NATO, the Russian Foreign Ministry, in a statement, strongly noted that Finland becoming part of NATO would cause "serious damage" to ties between Russia and Finland and security in Northern Europe, AP reported. The Russian Foreign Ministry added that they will be forced to take "retaliatory" measures of "military-technical and other characteristics" in order to tackle emerging threats to its national security. Russia has announced to stop supplying electricity to Finland on May 14, The Kyiv Independent reported. The decision will not pose a threat to the Finnish electricity market as Russian power constitutes for about 10% of Finland’s total electricity consumption.

Inputs from AP

Image: AP