ISTANBUL: After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Turkiye put off talks with Sweden and Finland about joining NATO on Tuesday, further eroding their hopes of joining the Western defense alliance.
The tri-party meeting has been moved from February to a “later date,” according to a Turkish diplomatic source without providing additional information.
The decision further reduced the likelihood that the two nations would join NATO prior to Turkiye’s presidential and parliamentary elections in May.
At a historic NATO summit in June, Finland and Sweden, which share a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia, decided jointly to end their decades-long policies of military non-alignment.
The rapid ratification of the two bids by 28 of the 30 member states of NATO demonstrates the urgency of the issues in light of Russia’s aggression. All Nato members, including Turkiye, must approve a candidate’s application to join.
Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, has promised that the two bids will be approved by his parliament next month. However, ahead of a close presidential election in which he is attempting to energize his nationalist electoral base, Mr. Erdogan has dug in his heels.
Finland made the first hint on Tuesday that it might try to join on its own due to Stockholm’s diplomatic issues with Ankara and Mr. Erdogan’s resistance.
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto stated to broadcaster Yle, “We have to assess the situation, whether something has happened that in the longer term would prevent Sweden from going forward.”
Permanently barred
Tobias Billstrom, the Swedish foreign minister, stated that he was “in contact with Finland to find out what this really means.”
Later, Mr. Haavisto clarified his remarks, stating that they were committed to submitting a joint application and that he did not want to “speculate” on Finland joining alone “as both countries seem to be making progress.”
However, according to him, “of course, somewhere in the back of our minds, we are thinking about different worlds where some countries would be permanently barred from membership.”
According to Mr. Haavisto, the anti-Turkiye protests had “clearly put a brake on the progress” of Finland’s and Sweden’s applications.
According to Haavisto, “My own assessment is that there will be a delay, which will certainly last until the Turkish elections in the middle of May.”
‘Plan B’ out in the open
Turkiye has stated that Finland’s membership in NATO is unimportant to it.
Helsinki had emphasized the advantages of joining with its neighbor and had thus far refrained from discussing the possibility of joining without Sweden.
Matti Pesu, a researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, stated, “for the first time it was said out loud that there are other possibilities.” However, “frustration has grown in various corners of Helsinki.”
He stated, “There has been a change” in the Finnish position. These Plan B statements are being made public. While Turkiye has not yet indicated that it will treat the two applications “separately,” Mr. Pesu said that it will be “interesting to see how Turkiye reacts” to Mr. Haavisto’s remarks.
