Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed the door in Sweden’s face once more Wednesday, saying that the Nordic country should not “bother” to attempt to persuade Ankara to support its bid to join NATO after the recent Quran burning by an ultra-right politician last month. He did, however, signal a more positive attitude toward Helsinki should it consider joining the military alliance without its neighbor.
But Finland maintained Wednesday that it would continue to advance the membership process together with Sweden. A joint presidential and government committee on Finnish security and foreign policy said that the “fastest possible realization of both countries’ memberships” was in the best interest of Finland, Sweden and NATO.
