Ankara continues to express its objections to the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, while putting various security issues on the table. "The candidacies of Finland and Sweden for NATO membership will only go ahead if concrete measures are taken that respond to Turkey's national security concerns," Turkish presidential adviser Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a phone call with his counterparts from the two countries.
Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan's foreign policy adviser, had a telephone conversation with German Chancellor's adviser Jens Plettner, Sweden's Deputy Foreign Minister Robert Ridberg, Finnish presidential adviser Petri Hakkarainen, British national security adviser Steven Lovegrove and US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, to discuss the proposed NATO enlargement.
"It was underlined that if Turkey's expectations are not fulfilled, the progress of the process will not be possible," the statement issued by Erdogan's office said.
According to Anadolu Agency, Kalin's contacts also discussed steps that could be taken to end the war in Ukraine through diplomatic means and negotiations and to address the risk of food insecurity.
Erdogan: We cannot make the mistake we made with Greece again
Erdogan took the opportunity to "attack" NATO again, on the occasion of Sweden and Finland's membership request, earlier today during a speech in the Turkish parliament, referring to Greece.
"NATO is making various efforts to strengthen its eastern borders. The constant movement of the Alliance's resources in the region since the start of the war in Ukraine gives us mixed feelings, as we have never encountered this picture as NATO members in all the years we have been fighting terrorism. We expect our allies to understand, respect and support our sensitivity. We are sensitive to protecting our borders from terrorism. None of our allies have shown respect for this sensitivity, as we expected," Erdogan initially said.
"As long as refugees did not turn to Western countries, we did not see allies sharing our problems. These are our allies in NATO. It is obvious that our allies do not share this sensitivity, although they show unlimited tolerance to some countries acting illegally within the NATO and EU framework. This does not mean that we will say an unquestioning yes to every proposal they put to us. Supporting the terrorist organisation PKK/YPG and asking us for support for their membership of NATO is inconsistent to say the least. Our only expectation is that NATO will show goodwill towards Turkey's legitimate efforts to protect its borders," the Turkish president continued.
"We asked for 30 terrorists from Sweden, they said they would not give them to us. You will not give us the terrorists, but you will ask us to join NATO. We cannot say yes and make this security organization deprived of security. That mistake was made once with Greece. Greece and France had left NATO, unfortunately, we said yes to getting back in later. A Muslim is not allowed to fall into the trap again. They wanted to come on Monday to discuss. Don't bother about nothing, there's no point. (The terrorists) are still walking in Sweden. We don't want anyone's territory. Our only goal is to cut off from the root actions aimed at destabilizing our country," Erdogan added.
Source: Proto Thema
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