ForSwedenApply to join FinlandNATOIn the case of NATO, two Turkish officials said on the 15th that Turkey planned to separately approve Finland’s membership before holding parliamentary and presidential elections on 14 May.
Both officials said Turkey’s parliament could approve Finland’s NATO membership before preparing for parliamentary elections in mid-April.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto will visit Turkey on the 17th to discuss the country’s application to join NATO with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In addition, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christerson said on the 14th that there is an increasing possibility of Finland joining NATO before Sweden, but he believes that Sweden joining NATO is only a matter of time.
After Russia invaded Ukraine last February, Sweden and Finland abandoned decades of military neutrality and applied to join NATO, but their applications must be approved by all 30 NATO members.
Turkey has asked Finland and Sweden to take a tough stand against harboring Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists on their territory. Turkey and its Western allies consider the PKK a terrorist organization. In addition, Ankara has also demanded that both countries extradite some followers of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, accused of participating in a failed coup attempt in 2016.
However, Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish far-right Hard Line party, was allowed to visit the Turkish embassy in Sweden on 21 January.EmbassyPro-Kurdish groups also joined the protest, sparking discontent in the Muslim world. Turkey angrily canceled three-party talks with Sweden and Finland to join NATO.
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