Turkey: Position on Nato won’t change in blow to June summit

Bloomberg

Turkey is maintaining its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining Nato unless they address its security concerns, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, leaving little hope that enlargement of the bloc could get underway by a summit this month.
Finland and Sweden sought entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, only to have their bids immediately stalled by Turkey, which is demanding they do more to clamp down on Kurdish groups it views as terrorists.
While Nato diplomats still express hope that accession talks could begin before, or even at, the meeting of the alliance’s leaders in Madrid at the end of June, they recognize time is running out.
“We will certainly not change our stance on the Nato issue until Sweden and Finland take clear, concrete and decisive steps in the fight against terrorism,” Erdogan told his ruling AK Party lawmakers on Wednesday in parliament. “While terrorist organizations are roaming the streets of Sweden and Finland, will we open our doors to them or stand with them?”
In Brussels, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg conceded that solving the impasse “will take some more time than we originally expected.”
A trilateral meeting between Swedish, Finnish and Turkish officials scheduled to take place at Nato’s headquarters Wednesday was canceled by Turkey because it deemed the countries’ commitments to be insufficient, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Turkey has the second-largest army in Nato after the US in terms of numbers and wields effective veto power, since enlarging the alliance requires unanimity among its members.
Officials in Ankara, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the chances of resolving the dispute during the summit were slim as Turkey has yet to receive a response from Sweden and Finland to its demands. Turkey wants the Nordic nations to make written commitments to crack down not only on supporters of the Kurdish PKK militant group —already designated a terrorist organization by the EU and the US — but also on its affiliates such as the so-called YPG militia in Syria, the officials said.
Backed by western nations, the YPG played a significant role in defeating IS extremists in Syria. Turkey accuses the group of attacking its soldiers near the countries’ border.
Ankara is prepared to wait for months or longer for Sweden and Finland to amend their laws to address Turkish concerns, they said. The officials pointed out that Greece, with which Turkey has a longstanding rivalry, held up Macedonia’s bid to join Nato for more than a decade until it changed its name to North Macedonia. Greece has a province called Macedonia.
Turkey is expecting Sweden and Finland to see the PKK and its offshoots in the same light as they regard the threat posed by IS, and prevent them from holding demonstrations against Turkey, the Turkish officials said. It also wants both countries to lift restrictions on arms sales to Ankara and extradite certain terrorism suspects.
“We see in the West, these terrorist organizations are marching under the watch of German police, it is the same in France and Britain as well,” Erdogan said Wednesday, broadening his offensive.