Turkey suddenly changed its mind with Erdogan’s spokesman stating that Turkey has not closed the door on the possibility of Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
Nevertheless, Turkey wants to negotiate with the Nordic countries and wants to stop Kurdish terrorist organizations, that are “housed” in Sweden and Finland.
“We are not closing the door. But we are basically raising this issue as a national security issue for Turkey,” Ibrahim Kalin told Reuters.
Kalin said the Kurdish PKK, which has been described as a terrorist organization, is raising funds and recruiting people in Europe and that its presence is “strong, open and recognized, especially in Sweden”.
“What needs to be done is clear: PKK shops, activities, organizations, individuals must be banned from being present in these countries,” Kalin said.
“NATO membership always has a process. We will see how things go. But this is the first point at which we want to draw the attention of all the allies as well as the Swedish authorities. Of course we want to have a discussion, a negotiation with our Swedish counterparts,” he added.
“If Finland and Sweden are concerned about their own national security, we have one thing in common. We are equally concerned about our own safety. We have to look at it from a mutual perspective,” Kalin said, adding that Russia’s opposition to the issue did not affect Turkey’s stance.
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