At its summit NATO Finland and Sweden will be in Madrid next month, according to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. After Russian invasion of Ukraine Sweden and Finland have decided to join NATO, overturning the policy of years. However, Turkey surprised its NATO allies last week by raising objections to the two countries’ accession.
Moreover Stockholm and Helsinki to send delegations to Ankara tomorrow Wednesday to defy oppositionsaid today the Finnish Foreign Minister Peka Haavisto.
“We are sending delegations to visit Ankara, both Sweden and Finland. “This will happen tomorrow, so the dialogue continues,” said Haavisto from Davos.
“We understand that Turkey has some of its own concerns about terrorism (…) We believe that these issues can be resolved. Maybe there are some issues that are not directly related to Finland “and Sweden, but more so with other NATO countries,” the Finnish minister continued.
For her part, US Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks commented today that Washington is convinced that Finland and Sweden will be able to reduce Turkey’s objections, as reported by Reuters and relayed by the Athens News Agency.
“We are convinced that Finland and Sweden will be able to resolve these (concerns) directly with the Turks,” she said, speaking on behalf of her Norwegian counterpart from Oslo.
Ankara claims that Sweden and Finland sponsor individuals linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and supporters of the former imam, US-exiled Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of orchestrating the failed 2016 coup.
All 30 NATO member states must give their approval in order for a new member to join the Alliance.
On Saturday, the leaders of Turkey, Sweden and Finland discussed Ankara’s concerns.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson on Saturday that he expected concrete measures to ease Stockholm’s Turkish concerns.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said he had “an open and direct” telephone conversation with Erdogan.
The Turkish president also spoke with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, to whom he said that Ankara would only consider the demands of Sweden and Finland if they seemed clearly willing to co-operate in the fight against terrorism.
The “negotiation game” with Ankara, aimed at “exchanges”
In the meantime, for a “negotiation game” with Ankara on the issue Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATOaimed at some “exchanges”, speak two French experts on international politics
Asked in particular by the French newspaper Le Figaro if Turkey could block the accession process of Finland and Sweden to NATO, Cyril Brett, a professor of political science at the Sorbonne, said that each member state had a de facto veto and that Turkey’s objection is due to the presence in the territory of the two Nordic countries of the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara.
Another deterrent is the relationship between Erdogan and Putin, which, according to Didier Beyoncé, deputy director of the Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), is an “important factor”, as is the political situation in Turkey. According to the French analyst, Erdogan’s veto on Sweden and Finland joining NATO “is a way to appear as the head of the Turkish state that resists external pressure” in the run-up to next year’s elections.
The two experts conclude that “a game of negotiation is taking place” so that Ankara can demand “compensation”. In the possible “exchanges”, the extradition of PKK members from Sweden and Finland is estimated first. Secondly, the lifting of the EU arms embargo. Finally, Turkey could ask to be no longer excluded from US armaments programs and seek compensation. “Turkey has every interest in asking to be included in all discussions on the Black Sea region,” they said.
As to whether it is possible to satisfy these aspirations, it is commented that, as far as European embargoes or US armaments programs are concerned, they do not seem to be inaccessible. The “situation is difficult” regarding the extradition request of PKK members. “Not only are there legal remedies that can prevent extradition, but there is also the issue of public opinion. [..]”, Explains Beyonce, as reported by a response of the Athenian News Agency.
In any case, although NATO can not formally force Turkey to accept the accession of the two Scandinavian countries, “it is not in Ankara’s interest to alienate itself from the Alliance countries”, Beyonce comments, estimating that Turkey, Although it has the means to permanently prevent Finland and Sweden from joining NATO, it is estimated that “the door is not completely closed” and there are exchanges that could change its mind.
Source: News Beast
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