The Turkish National Security Council stressed today, Wednesday, the need for countries wishing to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to act "according to the law and spirit of the alliance," noting the need for Sweden and Finland to fulfill, through concrete steps, their obligations stemming from the tripartite memorandum of understanding on combating organizations. terrorist.
On June 28, Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding regarding the accession of the latter two countries to NATO, after they pledged to respond to Ankara's demands regarding cooperation in combating terrorism.
The council pointed out - in a statement after the end of its meeting chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara - that Turkey supports the NATO's open-door policy.
He added that it was necessary to fulfill the obligations arising from the Memorandum of Understanding on combating terrorism, especially the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Gulen, which Ankara classifies as "terrorists", and to take concrete steps "at the earliest".
The council also condemned the offensive attacks on the Holy Quran, noting that "those who encourage and sponsor acts that target the foundations of freedom of religion and thought are partners in hate crimes."
military equipment
On the other hand, the Finnish Ministry of Defense announced, for the first time since 2019, that it had granted authorization to export military equipment to Turkey, after it suspended its export due to the backdrop of Ankara launching a military operation in Syria.
The resumption of licenses for the export of military equipment is one of the conditions set by Ankara to give the green light to the accession of Finland and Sweden to the alliance, and Stockholm lifted the suspension of exporting this equipment to Turkey at the end of last September.
The new Finnish decision comes after Ankara postponed on Tuesday talks with Sweden and Finland about their accession to NATO, coinciding with President Erdogan's condemnation of Stockholm for allowing a phenomenon during which an extremist right-wing activist burned a copy of the Qur'an in front of the Turkish embassy in Sweden.
Turkey approval
On the other hand, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said that they are waiting for Hungary's approval of his country's membership in NATO, "starting from the end of next February," and no date has been set for approval by Turkey due to the events related to the burning of the Holy Qur'an in Sweden.
Haavisto stated - in a press statement - that countries other than Turkey and Hungary have agreed to Finland's membership in the alliance, adding, "There was no news from Turkey after the incident that took place in Stockholm, the recent demonstrations (of supporters of the PKK organization) in Stockholm on January 11 The ongoing second only prolonged and exacerbated the situation."
He stated that Finland shares a border of 1,300 km with Russia, stressing that his country's goal is to secure NATO's borders between Finland and Russia.