Nordic NATO expansion unlikely before June: Türkiye

Türkiye is "not in a position" to approve Stockholm's NATO membership bid until its concerns regarding terrorist groups are addressed, the presidential spokesperson has said.

"We are not in a position to send a (ratification) law to the parliament," Turkish Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin told reporters in Istanbul on Saturday. 

The presidential spokesperson said Turkish ratification of the bid depends on how quickly Stockholm fulfils counter-terrorism promises made as part of its deal with Ankara. 

Kalin said the Swedish government needed to send a clear message to "terrorist organisations that Sweden is no longer a safe haven for them and that they will not be able to collect money, recruit members and engage in other activities." 

The timetable for presidential and parliamentary elections in Türkiye could also play a role, Kalin said. "We have a time issue if they want to join NATO before the NATO summit in June," he added, referring to the elections expected around May. 

"Given that the parliament will go into recess some time before the elections, you're looking at 2-2.5 months time frame to do all this," he said.

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Taking on terrorists

While Stockholm says it is fully committed to implementing the agreement signed last year in Madrid, "it needs six more months to write new laws that would allow the judicial system to implement the new definitions of terrorism," Kalin said. 

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in May, abandoning decades of military non-alignment, a decision spurred by the Russia-Ukraine war.

But Türkiye – a NATO member for more than 70 years – voiced objections, accusing the two countries of tolerating and even supporting terror groups, including the PKK and Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Last June, Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum at a NATO summit in Madrid to address Ankara’s legitimate security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership in the alliance.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

FETO orchestrated a defeated coup in Türkiye on July 15, 2016, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 wounded. Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

“In principle, we would like to see them (Sweden and Finland) in NATO,” Kalin told.

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