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Finland and Sweden, the two Nordic nations, will end their decades of neutrality and are set to join NATO. Turkey, that had earlier raised objection to their bid for membership and had blocked Finland and Sweden’s accession to the Alliance, signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding with Sweden and Finland Tuesday at the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain.
It is to be noted that Russia had warned against Finland and Sweden joining NATO as it would expand and bring the defensive military alliance “on its doorstep.” Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov had labelled the move as a “mistake” that would have “far-reaching consequences.”
Image credit: Associated Press
Here’s what happened
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said at earlier meetings with Finnish and Swedish delegations that the talks with two nordic states had not been “at the expected level” and that it alleviates Turkey’s security concerns. “As long as Tayyip Erdogan is at the head of the Republic of Turkey, we cannot say ‘yes’ to countries that support terror joining NATO,” he had told reporters on the plane following a visit to Azerbaijan according to Hurriyet newspaper.
Turkey’s concerns
Ankara had accused Sweden and Finland of harboring Kurd groups linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and others it deems terrorists, and accuses of hindering its military operations in Syria. The two countries had halted arms exports to Ankara in 2019. “They are not honest or sincere. We cannot repeat the mistake made in the past regarding countries that embrace and feed such terrorists in NATO, which is a security organization,” Erdogan had said. Turkey that hosts the second-largest army in the NATO alliance, had said that its demands must be met.
Turkey’s demands in exchange of Sweden, Finland’s NATO bid approval
Ankara, which joined NATO three years after it was established in 1949, has been opposing Sweden and Finland’s NATO bid due to resentment of the nordic countries’ support of the PKK/YPG/PYD Kurdish terrorist organisations. Erdogan had earlier affirmed that while Turkey fully supports NATO’s open-door policy based on the Alliance’s founding document’s Article 10, the two countries had not heeded Turkey’s demands to extradite more than 33 terrorists wanted in Ankara for the July 2016 coup.
The PKK, which seeks an independent state in Turkey, had attempted to overthrow Erdogan’s ruling government. President Tayyip Erdogan had asserted that NATO must not expect Turkey to approve Baltic nation Sweden and Finland’s membership bid without them first extraditing the PKK “terrorists.”
PKK/YPG/PYD terrorist organisations maintain their headquarters in Damascus, and are also supported by Syria’s Bashar-al-Assad regime, as well as Iran, Iraq, and Libya. Erdogan also recently derided the US for lifting sanctions on regions in Syria that are a stronghold of the nationalist YPG/PKK terror group. Washington labels these what it refers to as ‘militia groups’ as the “allies” in the fight against ISIS/Daesh in Syria.
Erdogan warned NATO Chief Stoltenberg that Sweden and Finland must demonstrate that they do not support terrorists, are willing to cooperate with Alliance’s members’ concerns. Ankara demanded that the sanctions against Turkey must be repealed.
NATO’s response
NATO chief Stoltenberg, for his part, stressed that Turkey, whom he described is an essential NATO ally, must have its security obligations met as no other country has faced the terrorism issue so much as Ankara. Notably, Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in May.
NATO chief stressed that after Turkey’s security guarantees are met, all 30 NATO member nations must vote in favour of the accession. In late May, Turkey convened meetings in Ankara with the Swedish and Finnish delegations to discuss their NATO applications. In June, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Stoltenberg appealed to Ankara that adding Sweden and Finland into NATO would strengthen the alliance.
Turkey signs ‘trilateral memorandum of understanding’ with Sweden and Finland at NATO summit in Madrid
“I’m pleased to announce that we now have an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO. Turkey, Finland and Sweden have signed a memorandum that addresses Turkey’s concerns, including around arms exports, and the fight against terrorism,” Stoltenberg announced at the NATO summit in Madrid. NATO chief said after the signing of the trilateral memorandum that he was “confident” Sweden and Finland becoming NATO members is “something that will take place.”
“Welcoming Finland and Sweden into the alliance will make them safer, NATO stronger and the Euro Atlantic area more secure. This is vital as we face the biggest security crisis in decades,” NATO chief said.