We asked the NATO expert, among other things, who has the ball now and whether Turkey would start processing NATO applications separately.
Turkey’s most recent NATO statements have sparked debate in Finland and Sweden. However, should Turkey’s words be taken literally?
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would hint on Sunday that Finland can be accepted as a NATO member before Sweden.
Foreign minister Pekka Haavisto said on Monday at a press conference that the opinion of Finland and Sweden will not be asked in how the matter progresses in the parliaments of Turkey and Hungary.
For this article, we went through three claims of the last few days and found out about them, research doctor Iro Särkän with.
Haavisto: “We want to move forward at the same time as Sweden, and that is still our position. Our opinion is not asked in how the matter progresses in the parliaments of Turkey and Hungary.”
Research doctor Iro Särkkä from the Finnish Foreign Policy Institute says that it is not up to Finland or Sweden to decide whether we will join NATO at the same time.
– I understand Haavisto’s comment to mean that Finland wants to join NATO together with Sweden. This is certainly the case in Sweden as well. However, it is not in our power to decide whether this happens.
– We can try to influence Turkey through discussion and diplomacy, but in the end it is about two different applications. If Turkey and Hungary decided to act in such a way as to ratify Finland first, we would not be able to prevent it.
Çavuşoğlu: “Turkey could evaluate Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO applications separately if NATO and the respective countries make a decision on the matter”
According to Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, since the beginning of the NATO process, Turkey has had fewer problems with Finland than with Sweden. Çavuşoğlu commented on the matter on Monday in Ankara and repeated the same on Tuesday in Budapest.
According to Iro Särkä, Turkey is ready to listen to Sweden and Finland.
– Finland and Sweden can try to be proactive in such a way that we try to influence Turkey so that this decision is made at the same time, Särkkä commented.
– But Turkey can act however it wants in this matter. However, Turkey is ready to listen to Finland and Sweden. I think it shows that the communication links are open.
Haavisto: “For Finland, the message is that we have made progress in tripartite matters”
Yesterday, after talking with the Turkish foreign minister, it was confirmed to me that in Turkey the matter is seen as Finland has progressed a little faster than Sweden in the tripartite matters agreed in Madrid last summer, Haavisto said at the press conference yesterday.
– I believe what Haavisto says, but whether we can trust what the Turks say is a different matter. We have seen many times that something new is always invented there.
– It is easy to mistrust Turks’ statements, because there are always new demands and strong statements.
According to Iro Särkä, Turkey’s statements are followed too closely in Finland.
– We Finns stereotypically trust what is said and easily take it literally. Yes, there can be roundabouts and throws from the Turkish side.
– We in Finland are perhaps too closely following what the Turkish political leadership says. I think it reflects this situational sensitivity. You should keep the big picture and scale in mind, and not jump at every statement. We are perhaps too sensitive in this situation, Särkkä states.
What thoughts did the article evoke? You can discuss the topic until Wednesday at 11 p.m.