The Foreign Minister urged Finland and Sweden on Saturday to stop the "unacceptable and outrageous" support they are providing to the PKK/YPG terrorist organization, potentially complicating the alliance’s enlargement as the two Scandinavian countries consider joining NATO.
In a doorstep statement ahead of an informal NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Berlin, Mevlut Çavuşoğlu said Turkey has always backed NATO's open-door policy.
However, Çavuşoğlu said Sweden and Finland were "openly supporting and are engaging with PKK/YPG terrorist organization" which has been "attacking Turkey and killing Turkish troops and people."
"Therefore, it is unacceptable and outrageous that our friends and allies are supporting this terrorist organization. And because of our fight against this terrorist organization, there have been export restrictions on the defense industry products that we are importing from allies and some countries that are planning to be a member of NATO," he said.
"And that's why the big majority of the Turkish people are against the membership of those countries who are supporting the PKK/YPG terrorist organization and they're asking us to block this membership. But, these are the issues that we need to talk about with our NATO allies, as well as these countries," he added.
Finland uncommitted
The country's foreign minister on Friday avoided commenting on demands from alliance member Turkey for an active stance against the PKK terrorist group.
"I don't want to go now into the details of different groupings or different persons, but I just want to say that the fight against terrorism is a very important principle in our politics and it's also a very important principle in NATO," Pekka Haavisto said in an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency (AA).
His remarks came a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan voiced skepticism on Finland's and Sweden's membership applications and heavily criticized the two countries for tolerating extremists and far-left terrorist groups, including the PKK, which is also listed as a terrorist group by the European Union.
Asked about Erdoğan's comments about their NATO bid, Haavisto expressed hope that they could overcome their differences with Turkey on the issue.
Underlining that "each and every NATO country has the right to have their own opinions on the applicant countries," the Finish foreign minister noted that he had visited Turkey twice this spring and held talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Çavuşoğlu.
Haavisto said that he discussed this issue with Çavuşoğlu on Friday. "Probably, we'll meet today here in the NATO meeting, as well," he said, referring to Saturday's informal foreign ministers meeting in Berlin.
Adding that they would continue to be in close dialogue, he said Finland is aware of the importance of fighting terrorism, for the safety of Europe and the world.
Both Finland and Sweden have signaled that they may submit simultaneous membership applications to NATO in the coming days.
In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot.