Erdogan: We may say “yes” to Finland, Sweden will be shocked

A different answer may be given by Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Finland for joining NATO, as the Turkish president hinted, without doing the same for Sweden.

“If necessary, we can give a different message regarding Finland. Sweden will be shocked when we give a different message about Finland,” he said in response to a question about the two northern countries’ NATO membership candidacy during a televised meeting with young people.

Ankara therefore for the first time suggests that it is ready to consider Finland’s candidacy separately from Sweden’s.

Turkey on Tuesday suspended the accession process of Sweden and Finland to NATO, postponing indefinitely a tripartite meeting originally scheduled for early February aimed at removing Ankara’s objections to their candidacy.

Critical of Sweden

The Turkish president had warned on Monday that Sweden, which is already accused by Turkey of harboring Kurdish terroristscan no longer count on Ankara’s support, following the burning of a copy of the Koran by a far-right activist in Stockholm.

Without mentioning this incident, the Turkish president nevertheless repeated his criticisms against Sweden regarding the Turkish extradition requests. “We told them: ‘If you want to enter the NATO, you must send these terrorists back to us.” We gave them a list of 120 people (…) But they are mocking us by saying that they changed their Constitution“, he said according to APE-MPE.

The burning of a copy of the Koran by a right-wing extremist last week near the Turkish embassy in Sweden sparked strong protests in Ankara and many capitals around the Muslim world. Ankara had already canceled a planned visit by the Swedish defense minister. Stockholm expressed its regret for a “deeply disrespectful” act and its support for Muslims, stressing that the Swedish Constitution prevents such actions from being banned, but did not quell Turkish anger.