Turkey asks Finland to resume defense sales amid NATO talks
Speaking ahead of the Finnish defense chief's visit to Turkey, the top Turkish diplomat has complained that his country is still under de facto defense sales restrictions from Finland.
Finland has yet to lift arms embargoes against Turkey, a pledge that both Stochkholm and Helsinki made under a deal paving the way for the Nordic enlargement of NATO, the top Turkish diplomat said, speaking ahead of the Finnish defense chief’s visit to Ankara this week.
Dropping their historical military non-alignment policies, both Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ankara has asked both countries to address its national security concerns in return for ratifying their accession to the alliance.
“There has been no statement from Finland that the arms embargo against us has been lifted yet. We are waiting for such a statement from them,” Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday, speaking at a joint presser with his Romanian counterpart Bogdan Aurescu in Ankara. He added that Finnish Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen’s visit to Turkey this week will be “important” in this respect.
Kaikkonen is set to hold talks with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar on Thursday, Turkey’s official Anadolu News Agency reported.
