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Turkey will not approve Sweden, Finland joining NATO: Erdogan

Türkiye Materials 16 May 2022 22:04 (UTC +04:00)
Turkey will not approve Sweden, Finland joining NATO: Erdogan

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said Turkey will not approve Sweden and Finland's bid to join NATO, as he criticized them for failing to take a clear stance against terrorism, Trend reports citing Daily Sabah.

Erdoğan’s remarks came after the Nordic countries officially announced their intention to apply for the membership of the military alliance.

Any membership bid must be unanimously approved by NATO’s 30 members.

“Neither of the countries has a clear stance against terror organizations,” Erdogan told a joint news conference with Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune in the capital Ankara.

Erdogan called Sweden a “hatchery” for terrorist organizations and added that they had terrorists in their parliament.

“First of all, we will not say ‘yes’ to those (countries) who apply sanctions to Turkey to join the security organization NATO,” he said.

Senior representatives of Sweden and Finland plan to travel to Turkey for talks to address Ankara’s objections, the Swedish foreign office said Monday.

However, Erdogan said they “should not bother” coming to convince Turkey to approve their NATO bids.

“They say they will come to Turkey on Monday. Will they come to persuade us? Excuse us, but they shouldn’t bother,” he noted.

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