Defense Minister Mikko Savola (center) met Defense Minister Pål Jonson on Monday during his first visit to Sweden as a minister.
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has demanded new handovers as a condition for Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership after a Kurdish group hung a doll representing Erdoğan hanging by its legs in front of Stockholm’s city hall.
Minister of Defense Mikko Savolan according to the opinion also came up in the meeting of the ministers, even though the discussions defense minister Pål Jonson’s with focused on other things.
– Of course it was ignored. After all, this is an unfortunate event that needlessly provokes Turkey as well. But when you live in a western country where there is freedom of expression of opinion, different kinds of demonstrations can occur. Sure [tällaiset mielenosoitukset ovat] pretty much unnecessary and provocative at this point, Savola said in an interview with aam on Tuesday.
Savola sees Turkey’s own internal politics in Turkey’s new demands. According to him, the matters agreed with Turkey in Madrid last summer have already been answered, and there should be no obstacles to ratifying the membership.
– Turkey makes decisions when it sees fit.
Savola told Ykkösaamu on Tuesday that he discussed defense cooperation, supporting Ukraine and the NATO process with the Swedish Minister of Defense. The countries insist on joining NATO at the same time.
– It is obvious that we are going at a steady pace. This was also stated there.
In ‘s morning, Savola also stated that Finland cannot influence the US and Turkey’s fighter jet deals. Turkey’s foreign minister will discuss the purchase of fighter jets in the United States in the coming days.
According to press reports, the United States considers the ratification of Finland’s and Sweden’s membership a condition for fighter jet sales.
The video shows how a doll representing the Turkish president was hanged in Sweden:
Information about the Turkish Foreign Minister’s visit to the United States was added to the story on 17.1.23 at 8:17.
Information about the content of Savola and Jonson’s conversations was added on 17.1.23 at 8:30 am.