Turkey not to allow “terrorism-supporting” countries to join NATO: president

Turkey will not allow “terrorism-supporting” countries to enter NATO, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday.
Sweden and Finland have expressed earlier their condemnation to terrorism, but Erdogan believes they are not sincere or honest enough.
A joint Swedish-Finnish delegation held talks in Ankara with Turkish officials and diplomats on Wednesday in an attempt to resolve disputes with the middle east country.
But last week’s negotiations were not at the “expected level”, Erdogan told journalists on the plane after his flight from Azerbaijan to Turkey.
“They have expectations, but they did not take the necessary steps regarding Turkey,” the state-run TRT broadcaster quoted Erdogan as saying.
On the contrary, they kept on the activities which Turkey has been criticizing, the Turkish president said.
“As long as Tayyip Erdogan is the head of the Republic of Turkey, we definitely cannot say ‘yes’ to countries, which ‘support terrorism’, entering the NATO,” he said.
Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO last week following the Russia-Ukraine conflict that erupted in February.
NATO allies, except for Turkey, have welcomed the two countries’ proposals. Accession of new member states requires consensus of all 30 existing NATO members.
The Turkish side, citing the Swedish and Finnish ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and other anti-Turkey groups, objected to their entry into the alliance.
The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, has been rebelling against the Turkish government for more than three decades.
Turkey also accuses the two countries of harboring members of the Gulen Movement, which Ankara says is behind a failed military coup attempt in 2016.
Turkey demanded “concrete assurances” from Sweden and Finland for “termination of support” to these groups, and requested the lifting of arms sanctions against Ankara.
Erdogan also said that he would have telephone conversations with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine respectively on Monday, noting that Turkey will continue to encourage both sides to resolve relevant issues through dialogue and other diplomatic channels.The post Turkey not to allow “terrorism-supporting” countries to join NATO: president first appeared on Ariana News.

Source: Ariana News