NATO talks between Finland, Sweden and Turkey will continue today, Monday, but Foreign Minister Haavisto has no high expectations for the meeting.
Sakari Nuuttila,
Jutta Mattsson
Germany is “very confident” that an agreement will be reached between Finland and Sweden on NATO membership, a German government source told Reuters.
At next week’s Madrid summit, the issue is unlikely to move forward, as Turkey, which is holding back membership talks, has already announced.
– It would be nice to announce concrete steps already, but the prolongation of the process in a few more weeks would not be a disaster, a German source tells Reuters.
According to him, the German government has not identified any “insurmountable problems” in the situation.
NATO-level talks between Finland, Sweden and Turkey will continue today, Monday.
Discussions will take place in Brussels, hosted by the NATO Secretariat. According to the BTI, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto stated that Finland does not have high expectations regarding the meeting.
“Sweden has a more positive attitude towards the Kurds”
Promoting Swedish membership is currently very difficult, according to an expert interviewed by the news agency AFP.
– It would require both parties to show a willingness to make real compromises, Director of the Turkish Institute at Stockholm University Paul Levin notes.
The negotiations will address security concerns raised in Turkey in order to make progress on Finland’s and Sweden’s application for membership.
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused Finland and Sweden of “protecting terrorists”.
Over the past five years, Turkey has asked Finland to extradite several members of the Gülen and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to Turkey. Turkey has also demanded that Finland and Sweden lift their arms embargo on Turkey.
Levin points out that Sweden considers the PKK to be a terrorist organization, as do other European countries. According to him, however, Sweden stands out with a more positive attitude towards the Kurdish movement than other countries.
There are about 100,000 Kurds living in Sweden, and Levin describes the minority as influential.
“In that sense, maybe Turkey is right to focus its spotlight on Sweden,” Levin tells AFP.