“Finnish and Swedish security go together” – Finland’s FM
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – At a press conference on Monday, Finnish Foreign Minister, Pekka Haavisto, said his government still hoped that Finland would accede to NATO together with Sweden.
The remarks were made in the aftermath of hints by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggesting only Finland’s bid would be accepted.
“Our strong wish is still to join NATO together with Sweden,” Haavisto said today, “We have underlined to all our future NATO partners, including Hungary and Turkey [who have yet to sign off] that Finnish and Swedish security go together.”
Haavisto gave NATO’s next summit in the Lithuanian capital on July 11-12 as the “latest” date he hopes Turkey will accede to the two Nordic countries’ bids.
Following the joint bids last year, Erdogan attempted to extract increasingly demanding conditions for his country’s green light.
Sweden in particular has been in Turkey’s crosshairs, as the country is home to a large Kurdish diaspora from Turkey.
After a Swedish man burned a Quran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm in an act of protest, Erdogan had ruled out accepting Sweden’s bid before the Turkish general and presidential elections on May 14.