NATO allies read Turkey’s wish list as Ankara holds up membership bids
Ankara has listed the presence of what it calls terrorists in Sweden and Finland as its main objection to their accession but other factors could feature.
ISTANBUL — The deadlock created by Turkey’s foot-dragging over extending NATO membership to Sweden and Finland has left the alliance’s diplomats again striving to decode Ankara’s intentions.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared to put the brakes on the Nordic countries joining NATO last week, commenting, “We don’t feel positively about this.” He went further on Wednesday, when he directly linked their membership to extraditing “terrorists.”
Turkey’s main objection is to the presence of those it considers members or supporters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Sweden and Finland. Ankara has also complained of Swedish ministers meeting Syrian Kurdish politicians it accuses of having ties to the PKK.
Most of the Turkish protests seem to relate to Sweden, which has a large Kurdish diaspora. The Kurdish-speaking population of Finland was estimated at just over 15,000 in 2020, less than 0.3% of the population.
