Turkey supports Finland’s bid for NATO membership, but does not support Sweden’s bid, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.
“Our position on Finland is positive, but it is not on Sweden,” Erdogan said, commenting on the two Scandinavian countries’ bids to join NATO in a speech to lawmakers from his Justice and Labor Party. development.
Sweden and Finland asked to join the transatlantic defense alliance last year, after Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine, but faced unexpected resistance from Turkey and have been trying to win its support ever since.
The three countries reached an agreement in June on how to proceed, but Ankara suspended talks in January after tensions escalated following a protest in Stockholm in which a Quran was burned by a far-right Danish politician.
The United States believes that Sweden and Finland are ready to join the alliance.
