Finland still wants to join NATO along with Sweden and hopes to do so by July, despite Turkey’s objections.
The Nordic countries applied to join NATO last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but Turkey suspended the talks last week after protests in Stockholm that included the burning of a Koran.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan suggested on Sunday that Ankara might agree to join Finland before Sweden, but this was rejected on Monday by Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto.
“Our strong desire is still to join NATO together with Sweden,” Haavisto told a press conference in Helsinki.
“We have underlined to all our future NATO partners, including Hungary and Turkey, that Finnish and Swedish security moves together,” he said.
Sweden’s foreign ministry declined to comment.
Of NATO’s 30 members, only Turkey and Hungary have not yet ratified membership applications from the Nordic countries.
Turkey will hold presidential and parliamentary elections in May and many analysts believe it will be difficult to make progress before then.
But Haavisto said he still hopes Finland and Sweden will become NATO members in the next few months.
Finland’s border with Russia
(magazine photo)
“I still see the NATO summit in Vilnius in July as an important milestone, when I hope both countries will be accepted as NATO members,” Haavisto said.
Finland and Sweden were expecting a faster accession process and were surprised by Turkey’s objections.
Turkey wants Sweden, in particular, to take a clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and a group responsible for the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.
Sweden has said it takes Turkey’s security concerns seriously and is implementing a three-way agreement signed last June, but Ankara says it is not doing enough.
This has led to speculation that Finland, which shares an 810-mile border with Russia, could proceed without Sweden.
But Haavisto said security assurances from the United States, Britain and other NATO members meant Finland could be patient.
“We very much appreciate those security assurances, even though we understand it is not the same as NATO Article 5, but it is very important to us,” he said.
Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, NATO’s founding document, commits all members to mutual defense, stating that an attack against one is an attack against all.