Türkiye's concerns should be taken seriously: Germany

Germany says Türkiye’s concerns about Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership bids should be taken seriously.

"It is important now to have intensive talks with Türkiye" on the issue said German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht on Tuesday.

She said she’s "confident" of finding a solution for Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership.

The statement came hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara will not greenlight NATO membership for the two Scandinavian countries.

Sweden and Finland failed to take a clear stance against terrorism, said Erdogan on Monday.

"We will not say 'yes' to those (countries) who impose sanctions on Türkiye to join security organisation NATO," Erdogan said.

Erdogan also said that Swedish and Finnish delegations should not bother coming to Ankara to convince Türkiye to approve their NATO bid.

READ MORE:Erdogan: Türkiye will not greenlight NATO membership of Sweden, Finland

On Monday, members of PKK terrorist organisation hung terror-related flags in broad daylight and in full public view in the Swedish capital Stockholm.

Swedish authorities or the police did not take any action to prevent such an act. It was captured on video, which started making rounds on social media platforms soon afterwards.

The incident only validated the concerns repeatedly expressed by the Turkish leaders and officials over the inaction of authorities against PKK terror group in the two countries.

Growing list of NATO members 

NATO was founded in 1949, after the end of World War II, by 12 countries: the US, UK, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Luxembourg, Iceland, Denmark, and Belgium. Türkiye, along with Greece, followed in 1952, and this February Türkiye marked its 70th anniversary of joining the alliance.

In the 73 years since the alliance’s founding, the number of members grew from 12 to 30, through eight expansion waves.

Türkiye and Greece were the first to join the alliance.

In 1955, then-West Germany joined the NATO ranks, and in 1982, Spain gained membership.

With the 1999 post-Cold War accession of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, the number of members grew to 19.

The year 2004 saw Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Bulgaria join, along with the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

Albania and Croatia became member states in 2009, Montenegro in 2017, and finally North Macedonia in 2020.

READ MORE: Finland, Sweden should not support PKK/YPG terror group: Türkiye