Turkish authorities have postponed «indefinitely» a trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland to discuss the two countries’ accession to NATO following controversy over a series of protests in Stockholm in which effigies of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and even copies of the Koran were burned.
Thus, Turkey has requested the cancellation of this trilateral mechanism, planned to boost the membership of these two countries as part of the Atlantic Alliance. These talks, which date back to August 2022, were scheduled to take place in February, according to reports in the ‘Daily Sabah’ newspaper.
Tensions have risen in recent weeks as Turkey has condemned Sweden for allowing protests to take place outside the Turkish embassy in the country, and has continued to accuse Stockholm of allowing supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) — which Ankara considers a terrorist organization — to hold protests against Turkey.
Since submitting their official membership application in May 2022 at the height of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland have been trying to win Turkish approval to join the bloc. However, Ankara has asked for a series of guarantees, especially from Sweden, related precisely to dissidents and alleged members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). It has accused the country of «harboring terrorists».
However, over the last month there has been an increase in public support for Kurdish groups that Turkey considers terrorists, which has led to an increase in tension between the two countries, something that seems to jeopardize the talks.
The situation has even led the Finnish government to put on the table the possibility of going ahead with the accession process without Sweden. Just this Tuesday, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto acknowledged for the first time that the two countries should rethink the strategy of moving forward together if necessary. «We have to be prepared to reassess the situation,» he said.
Sweden maintains that it has fulfilled all its commitments under the pact, but Erdogan has warned that, as things stand, the Swedish government cannot «wait» for a final endorsement of Swedish membership.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
