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Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to reporters in Istanbul on May 13, 2022. Photo: AA
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey does not have a positive position on recent efforts by Sweden and Finland to join NATO, claiming that Stockholm has “nested” the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Finland plans to submit for NATO membership and Sweden is expected to do the same following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February. Both Scandinavian countries are already close partners of NATO but by joining it they can gain the support of 30 member countries when attacked.
NATO takes all its decisions by consensus, meaning that both countries need the blessing of all 30 member countries.
"We are currently following developments. We currently do not have a positive position on the issue of Sweden and Finland (joining NATO),"Erdogan told reporters after Friday prayer in Istanbul, reported the state-owned Anadolu Agency.
He added that Ankara agreed to readmit Greece into NATO in 1980 but now they do not want to “commit a second mistake,” claiming that Greece has exploited its membership to act against Turkey.
“Besides, Scandinavian countries are unfortunately almost like guesthouses for terrorist organizations. PKK and DHKPC are nested in Sweden and the Netherlands. They [terrorists] even take part in their parliaments. At this point, it is not for us to have a positive position,” claimed Erdogan.
PKK is an armed group struggling for the increased cultural and political rights of Kurds in Turkey. The Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) is a Marxist-Leninist group which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1990. Turkish government considers both terrorist organizations.
Sweden has given northeast Syria (Rojava) administration about $50 million since 2016, according to Kurdish authorities. Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ann Linde has received in Stockholm several Rojava delegations in recent years.
In Ankara in October 2020, Linde told her Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu that Turkey must withdraw from Rojava. Her comments angered the Turkish minister but were cheered by Kurdish officials in Rojava.
Rojava is militarily governed by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Turkey considers its backbone, Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), as the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.
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