Finnish foreign minister confident of compromise with Türkiye on NATO bid

By Nazli Yuzbasioglu

HELSINKI (AA) - Finland's foreign minister expressed confidence Wednesday that his country and Türkiye would be able to reach a compromise on the Nordic nation's bid to join NATO as well as on the PKK terrorist group and arms trade.

"But of course, this is also a situation where you need goodwill from both sides in these talks," Pekka Haavisto told Anadolu Agency exclusively during a media visit organized by the Finnish Foreign Ministry in Helsinki.

"NATO membership never had more than 30% support among the Finnish population until December, January, February this year. First in December, we've of course felt a little bit uncomfortable if it's Russia who decides who can join NATO and who cannot join NATO," Haavisto said.

After Russia's statements against Helsinki's accession to the alliance, Finnish authorities saw that their neighbor did not respect Europe's security architecture, he added.

"And all these triggered in Finland a very rapid process. First change in the public opinion happened quite rapidly in early March. We could see that in opinion polls that more than 50% of the Fins support NATO membership and then maybe 60%," he said.

Haavisto explained that two recent government reports had come before the parliament, with the first being about general security changes in Europe without pointing to NATO membership as a goal, while the second directly proposed joining the alliance.

He added that 188 out of 200 parliamentarians voted in favor of NATO membership.

All of these happened in parallel with Sweden, he said, adding that as a result, the two countries decided to deliver their application to NATO on the same day.

- Finland ready to convince each and every NATO state

Noting that some NATO members, including Türkiye, have voiced reservations on membership for the Scandinavian countries, Haavisto said Helsinki needed to "of course, try to convince each and every NATO country that it would be favorable to take Finland and Sweden as members, and we are net contributors to European security."

Stating that Finland allocates more than 2% of its national income to defense issues, Haavisto said they would buy 64 F-35 aircraft from the US.

He also stressed that Finland's 1,300-kilometer (about 810 miles) border with Russia was a problem that Finland would be bringing to NATO.

- Finnish, Swedish delegations in Türkiye discussed NATO membership

The foreign minister also referred to last week's high-level meetings between Finland, Sweden, and Türkiye last week in the capital Ankara, where he said the delegations had a "good and deep discussion" that lasted for five hours before returning to Helsinki and Stockholm to "assess the situation."

"So, I'm actually quite confident that there will be a continuation in this process. Of course, there are a variety of issues on the table. There is the issue of the PKK, which we see here in Finland and also in Sweden as a terrorist organization," he said, noting that the PKK is also on the EU's terror list.

"If, that has to be written in a bigger letters, we can do it, so to say," he added.

Haavisto also underlined that there was the question of deportation of some Finnish citizens or double citizens, adding that this was a matter linked to legal processes and the courts.

"We were a little bit concerned when, for example, in Sweden, there was a request to deport a member of parliament...We, on these issues, have to follow very strict national legislation."

Regarding arms trade with Türkiye, another matter that Ankara has raised, Haavisto said Sweden and Finland were not the only countries to place limitations in this area.

"These three issues have been being discussed and I'm quite confident that we can find some compromise solutions on these. But of course, this is also a situation where you need a goodwill from both sides in these talks," he said.

Finland and Türkiye currently have a "negotiation connection" between them, Haavisto said, adding that he had visited the country twice in the spring when he had "excellent talks" in Ankara and the southern resort province Antalya and got "very positive signals" for Helsinki's NATO membership.

"So, some of these remarks have been very surprising to us, because the earlier communication has been very, very good."

- 'NATO Madrid Summit will be a decisive moment'

NATO's upcoming summit in Madrid at the end of this month will be a decisive moment, Haavisto said.

"But of course, we are prepared also for the longer timetable if needed, depending then on the NATO countries' process," he said.

He said that for the two countries to join the alliance, all member countries would need to agree on their accession and separately ratify it.

Underlining that a “positive signal” is expected to come out of the NATO summit, Haavisto said: “Then, there is the ratification itself, that we need the ratification of 30 member states.”

If everything goes smoothly, he said, they expect to be part of the alliance by late dall and, at the earliest, by October.

*Writing by Dilara Hamit in Ankara