Ankara does not consider the possibility of Stockholm and Helsinki joining NATO a positive development, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters Friday.
"We are following the situation with Finland and Sweden, but we don't have a positive [on this issue]. Scandinavian countries are a guest house for terrorist organizations," he stressed.
By terrorist organizations Erdogan means members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is banned in the republic.
According to the Turkish president, "previous administrations made a mistake regarding Greece, and Greece's attitude towards Turkey is known." "We do not want Turkey to make a second mistake in this matter," he added.
Meanwhile, Turkish political scientist and economist and former Turkish trade representative to Russia Aydin Sezer spoke to TASS on Thursday, expressing the view that Ankara should veto the admission of Finland and Sweden to NATO so as not to jeopardize its own security.
At the beginning of April, the discussion on Finland's accession to NATO intensified. The main members of the alliance supported the idea. The majority of Finnish parliamentarians spoke in favor of accession. Sweden is also considering accession. A cross-party analysis of the security policy situation in the kingdom will be ready on May 13; the ruling Social Democratic Labour Party will decide on NATO accession on May 15.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS