TURKEY WILL SAY ‘NO’ TO ENTRY OF FINLAND, SWEDEN INTO NATO: ERDOĞAN

Thu 19 May 2022:

Turkey “will say no” to the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO, the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday.

His speech came as senior representatives of two countries are set to visit Turkey for talks.

Speaking to a group of Turkish youth, Erdoğan accused the two countries — and especially Sweden — of being “a focus of terror, home to terror.” The video of their conversation was released Thursday.

“We told them, we said that NATO is a security organization, we cannot accept the existence of terrorist organizations in such an organization,” Erdoğan told a meeting with a group of young people in the capital Ankara.

“Especially Sweden is a real guesthouse for terror,” he said, adding that Stockholm also imposed an arms embargo on Turkey.

Turkey’s approval is crucial because the military alliance makes its decisions by consensus. Each of its 30 member countries can veto who can join.

Erdoan also stated that the phone diplomacy with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine will continue.

Since the conflict began on February 24, Turkey has hosted the highest-profile discussions between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Antalya and Istanbul in March.

Russia’s war on Ukraine has killed or injured thousands of people and prompted more than 6.3 million people to flee the country.

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