Türkiye may favor Finland’s NATO bid

Türkiye may respond "differently" to Finland's NATO bid, which will "shock" Sweden, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Jan. 29.

"We may respond differently to Finland if necessary. Sweden would be shocked when we respond differently to Finland. But Finland should not make the same mistake," Erdoğan said at a meeting in the northwestern province of Bilecik.

Ankara sent a list of 120 "terrorists" to Sweden for extradition, Erdoğan said, adding that the Nordic country must extradite these people to Türkiye in order to join NATO.

Finland and Sweden won formal support for their plans at a historic NATO summit in June. Their bids were then swiftly ratified by 28 of NATO's 30 member states, highlighting the urgency of the issue in the face of Russia's aggression.

NATO member Türkiye hasn't ratified but endorsed their accession, which requires unanimous approval from all present alliance members. Sweden and Finland have taken some steps to address Türkiye's concerns but Ankara says more concrete actions are needed for the Turkish Parliament's ratification of their accession to the alliance.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also said that Türkiye may show a different approach to Finland's NATO bid than Sweden.

"If NATO and these countries take such a decision, we, as Türkiye, think that we may evaluate the applications separately, but first of all, NATO and these countries have to decide," Çavuşoğlu said on Jan. 30 at a joint press conference with his Portuguese counterpart, Joao Gomes Cravinho.

"We've been saying that we have fewer problems with Finland since the two countries' application process started. It would be fair to distinguish between a problematic country and a less problematic one," the minister added.

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