NATO's expansion policies should go in line with sensitivities of Türkiye: President

By Busra Nur Cakmak and Burak Dag

ANKARA (AA) – NATO’s expansion policies should go in line with the sensitivities of longtime member Türkiye, said the nation’s president on Monday, weeks after signing a protocol with membership hopefuls Sweden and Finland.

Referring to conditions in a memorandum the two Nordic countries signed with Türkiye at last month’s NATO summit in Madrid, Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned after a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara: “I repeat it again that we will freeze their NATO accession process if the conditions are not met.”
Earlier this month representatives from NATO's 30 member states signed accession protocols for Finland and Sweden after formally inviting them to join the military alliance.

Spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine, the two countries applied to join NATO in May, shedding their traditional neutrality.

But Türkiye voiced objections to their membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups such as the YPG/PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind a defeated coup in Türkiye in 2016.

Ahead of the summit, Ankara and the two Scandinavian countries signed the memorandum after four-way talks, including NATO.

The agreement allows the countries to become NATO members but requires them to take steps on Türkiye's terrorism concerns and lift an arms embargo on Ankara.

Following the trilateral deal, NATO formally invited Sweden and Finland to join the 30-member military alliance.