Turkey will not be rushed to drop its opposition to moves by Sweden and Finland to join Nato by next month when leaders of the alliance’s member states meet for a summit in June, a senior adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said.
Turkey first expects “concrete steps” from the two Nordic states on its demands that include recognising a Syrian Kurdish militant group that is fighting the Islamic State as “terrorists” and extraditing 40 people who Ankara wants to prosecute in its courts, Ibrahim Kalin said in televised remarks after meeting Swedish and Finnish negotiators in Ankara on Wednesday.
Finland and Sweden’s historic applications to enter the western defence alliance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now hang in the balance after Turkey, Nato’s second-biggest military, threatened to block the expansion over what it says are the countries’ backing for groups that imperil its security. New entrants must receive unanimous approval from Nato members.