The tripartite negotiations between Finland, Sweden and Türkiye over the Nordic countries’ bid to join NATO should be suspended, according to Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto.
“Talks should be paused. It’s best to resume after things settle down,” Haavisto said Tuesday amid escalating tension between Ankara and Stockholm following a scandalous incident in the Swedish capital on Saturday.
As Sweden's chances of getting on Ankara's good graces wane, Haavisto argued Finland “must consider joining NATO without Sweden."
"We have to assess the situation, whether something has happened that in the longer term would prevent Sweden from going ahead," Haavisto said, adding that it was "too early to take a position on that now" and that a joint application remains the "first option".
"My own assessment is that there will be a delay (in getting Türkiye's approval), which will certainly last until the Turkish elections in mid-May", Haavisto said.
Danish anti-Islam activist Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of Islam’s holy book in front of the Turkish Embassy and delivered a hatred-filled speech with permission from Swedish authorities under police protection last weekend, putting more strain on already tense ties between the two countries just as Sweden is looking to become a permanent NATO member.
Since officially applying for membership in May 2022, spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Nordic countries have been striving and struggling to secure Türkiye’s approval for joining the bloc. The Turkish government has been withholding its "yes" vote to their accession on grounds of security concerns, namely “harboring and tolerating” terrorist groups such as the PKK and the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).
Paludan’s blatantly anti-Islam and anti-Türkiye demonstration has sparked backlash not only in Türkiye but also around the world, with countries like Saudi Arabia, Egpyt, Iran, Pakistan and many others “strongly condemning and rejecting” it.
As per a tripartite memorandum, the sides inked in June last year, Stockholm has vowed to meet the said demands, including extraditing and increasing its crackdown on terrorist groups. For the previous month, however, public support in Sweden for the terrorist groups from their sympathizers has been raising the tensions between the two countries, which Ankara has repeatedly warned would jeopardize Stockholm’s NATO membership process.
A scandalous protest in Stockholm in mid-January in which an effigy of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was hanged from its feet in front of the city hall has particularly impaired negotiations, and Saturday’s Quran burning incident has become a boiling point.
Defense Minister Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Monday repeated Ankara’s support of NATO’s open-door policy, that Türkiye was not the enemy of Sweden and Finland. “We don’t stand in the way of their NATO membership,” he explained. “But just as they want to cooperate with NATO to defend their countries, we want cooperation in our fight against terrorism. We want support.”
He said Sweden and Finland wanted Türkiye’s support for the security of their own lands but they “refuse” Türkiye’s demands about cracking down on terrorism.
As President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan convened his Cabinet late on Monday, Paludan’s hate crime, the demonstrations targeting Erdoğan, and separating the NATO applications of Sweden and Finland into two cases were on the agenda.
Following the meeting, Erdoğan himself slammed Sweden for authorizing such scandals and declared the country “should not expect support from Türkiye on its NATO bid.”
Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson said he was intending to visit Ankara to smooth out the strain this week, despite the strong backlash.
