Finland must publicly state that it is lifting an arms embargo on Turkey to get Ankara’s approval for its NATO membership, the Turkish foreign minister said on Tuesday.
Mevlut Cavusoglu made the comments ahead of a visit by Finnish Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen, who will discuss his nation’s bid to join the military alliance with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar on Thursday.
“The Finnish Defense Minister’s visit to Turkey is important because we have not yet heard a statement from Finland that they have lifted the arms embargo against us,” Cavusoglu told reporters. “We expect such a statement from there.”
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Sweden and Finland abandoned their longstanding military non-alignment policies and asked to join the alliance after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, amid concerns Russia could target them later.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, right, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, left, attend a news conference in Istanbul, Turkey November 3, 2022. Sweden and Finland have fulfilled their obligations to the Turkey and should be able to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday.
(Shadati/Xinhua via Getty Images)
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But NATO member Turkey has blocked offers from Sweden and Finland to join the military alliance, accusing the two Nordic countries of ignoring threats to Turkey from Kurdish militants and other groups it considers terrorists and prompting them to crack down these groups. Ankara has also lobbied the two countries to lift the de facto ban on arms sales to Turkey.
Sweden announced in September it was lifting an arms embargo it imposed on Ankara in 2019 following Turkey’s military operation against Kurdish militia in Syria.
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Turkey, which has accused the Nordic countries of ignoring threats against it from Kurdish militants and other groups it considers terrorists, has not approved their membership. The parliaments of Turkey and Hungary have yet to ratify their applications. The other 28 NATO member states have already done so.
