ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan signalled on Sunday that Ankara may agree to Finland joining NATO ahead of Sweden, amid growing tensions with Stockholm.
“We may deliver Finland a different message (on their NATO application) and Sweden would be shocked when they see our message. But Finland should not make the same mistake Sweden did,” Erdogan said in a televised speech aired on Sunday.
Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and need all member countries’ approval to join. Turkiye and Hungary are yet to ratify the Nordic countries’ membership.
Turkiye says Sweden, in particular, harbors what Ankara says are militants from the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.
“We gave Sweden a list of 120 persons and told them to extradite those terrorists in their country. If you don’t extradite them, then sorry about that,” Erdogan said, referring to Turkiye’s agreement with Sweden and Finland last June over their NATO application.
Turkiye suspended NATO talks with Sweden and Finland last week after a protest in Stockholm in which a far-right politician burned a copy of the Qur’an.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said his country wanted to restore NATO dialogue with Turkiye, but Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday it was meaningless to restart talks.
Cavusoglu also said there was “no offer to evaluate Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO membership separately.”
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Turkiye’s Erdogan signals Finland’s NATO bid may be considered over Sweden
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Turkiye’s Erdogan signals Finland’s NATO bid may be considered over Sweden
- Turkiye suspended NATO talks with Sweden and Finland last week after a protest in Stockholm in which a far-right politician burned a copy of the Qur’an
Kuwait emir lambasts ‘brutal’ Iran attacks, affirms right to self-defense
KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait’s emir on Monday condemned Iran’s attacks on his country, where 12 people have been killed so far, as Tehran strikes out at the Gulf in response to US-Israeli attacks.
“Our country has been subjected to a brutal attack by a neighboring Muslim country, which we consider a friend, even though we have not permitted the use of our land, airspace, or coasts for any military action against it, and we have repeatedly informed them of this through our diplomatic channels,” said Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in a televised speech.
He also insisted on Kuwait’s “full and inherent right to self-defense,” speaking for the first time since Iran’s attacks began on February 28.
“Our country has been subjected to a brutal attack by a neighboring Muslim country, which we consider a friend, even though we have not permitted the use of our land, airspace, or coasts for any military action against it, and we have repeatedly informed them of this through our diplomatic channels,” said Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in a televised speech.
He also insisted on Kuwait’s “full and inherent right to self-defense,” speaking for the first time since Iran’s attacks began on February 28.
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