Türkiye postpones Sweden and Finland’s joining NATO for an indefinite period

A Turkish diplomatic source confirmed on Tuesday, that the tripartite negotiations between Türkiye, Sweden and Finland regarding NATO membership have been postponed indefinitely, at the request of Ankara.

According to the source, the next meeting, within the framework of this mechanism, should have been held in Brussels next February.

Last Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that Sweden should no longer wait for Ankara to take any step within the framework of accepting its accession to NATO, in light of the burning of the Holy Quran in Stockholm.

Last Saturday, the Danish-Swedish extremist Rasmus Paludan carried out what he promised to burn a copy of the Holy Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, amid great police protection and a large media presence.

Earlier, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said that negotiations between Finland and Sweden with Türkiye regarding NATO membership need to pause.

The statements of the Finnish Foreign Minister, Pekka Haavisto, regarding the possibility of joining NATO separately from Sweden at different times raised questions in Stockholm, while the Finnish minister said that the two countries are working to join the alliance at the same time.

NATO member states signed protocols regarding Finland and Sweden joining NATO on July 5, 2022.

These two countries will join NATO once all its member states ratify the accession protocols.

So far, of the 30 NATO member states, Sweden and Finland haven’t been ratified by Türkiye and Hungary.

Türkiye obstructed the two countries’ accession to NATO, demanding that the two northern countries declare Kurdish organizations terrorist, hand over persons accused of terrorism, and lift the embargo on arms supplies to Ankara.

In recent days, large-scale anti-Turkish protests took place in Sweden, which strained relations between the two countries.