Ankara, MINA – Turkey will not give the green light to NATO membership for countries that impose sanctions against it.
“We will not say ‘yes’ to those who impose sanctions on Turkey,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a press conference in the capital Ankara, as quoted by Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.
As a member of NATO for 70 years, Turkey, like all other members, must approve every new country joining the alliance.
Erdogan also criticized Finland and Sweden for not having a clear stance against terrorist groups.
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Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu expressed reservations over the possible membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO, saying the Scandinavian countries support the YPG/PKK terror group.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by the European Union (EU), but Turkey regrets that many European countries allow the terrorist group to exist and allow it to recruit and sell drugs to fund its attacks in Turkey.
In more than 35 years of terror campaign against Turkey, the terror group has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the PKK branch in Syria.
Previously, the governments of Sweden and Finland announced that they would send a delegation of diplomats to Turkey to discuss the application for membership in NATO.
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For decades Sweden and Finland took a neutral foreign policy stance in the region, but the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war that started on February 24 sparked a change in their approach, with people and most politicians preferring to join the NATO alliance.
However, Sweden and Finland, which have expressed their intention to apply for membership in NATO, have not received a positive response from Turkey. (T/RE1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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