On Sunday, the Swedish government did not comment in any way on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s latest threats, according to which Turkey would accept Finland, but not Sweden’s NATO membership.
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday evening for the first time hinted at the possibility that Turkey would accept Finland’s but not Sweden’s NATO membership.
However, Erdoğan’s TV speech was accompanied by a message for Finland as well. Finland’s application may also face headwinds if Finland acts like Sweden.
Erdoğan is annoyed with Sweden for many things, but as a special condition he now seems to consider a list of names according to which Sweden should hand over 120 people to Turkey.
The Swedish government has therefore been silent this evening, which the interviewed researchers have considered a good solution.
In the current affairs program of Swedish TV In Agenda (you switch to another service) lecturer Magnus Christianson The Swedish National Defense Academy estimates that Erdoğan’s speeches are the result of the ever-tightening election battle, in which Erdoğan wants to give the voters the impression that he will decide whether or not to expand NATO.
Middle East and Turkey expert Bitte Hammargren described that the relations between Sweden and Turkey have cooled down, but they are not in the freezer yet, so nothing final and irrevocable has been said about him yet.
– As long as Erdoğan is fighting for the election, everything depends on him winning the election. That is, before the elections, the process will not progress and if he remains in power, the vote may well change.
In Turkey, presidential and parliamentary elections are held in mid-May.
However, Hammargren reminds that there may be a second round in the presidential elections and after that there will still be a dispute about the legality of the elections, meaning that the membership of Finland and Sweden will not necessarily be decided before the NATO summit in July.
Trump’s ex-advisor would separate Turkey from NATO
Swedish researchers pointed out that the situation is starting to look difficult for NATO as well, but the most direct criticism of Turkey came from the United States. President Donald Trump’s former advisor John Bolton has matured so much to Turkey’s actions, for example, regarding the membership of Finland and Sweden, that for him Turkey could very well be separated from NATO.
Bolton justifies his strong position with the fact that Turkey does not behave like a proper NATO member, and has tested the allies’ patience many times before.
Bolton recommends moderation to Finland and Sweden, because Turkey’s behavior can be seen as blackmail. In Sweden, Bolton would not do anything now, but would just wait for the May elections and their result.