Erdoğan tells Finland and Sweden to fulfill conditions on NATO bids

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that Turkey will freeze Finland and Sweden's NATO bids if they do not fulfill their conditions in the memorandum, adding that "Sweden does not give a good impression" at the moment.

Monday July 18 2022 10:09 pm

Reuters - Anadolu Agency

Turkey will freeze Finland and Sweden's NATO membership bids if the Nordic countries do not keep promises on counter-terrorism made last month, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on July 18, adding he believed Sweden was "not showing a good image" for now.

Referring to conditions in a memorandum the two Nordic countries signed with Turkey last month, Erdoğan said “I repeat it again that we will freeze their NATO accession process if the conditions are not met," after a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara.

He added: “We see that especially Sweden does not give a good impression in this regard. Turkey's stance about this issue is very clear, the rest is their business.”

Finland and Sweden applied for membership of the defence alliance in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but were met with opposition from Turkey, which accused the Nordic countries of supporting groups it deems terrorists.

The three countries signed an accord at the NATO summit in Madrid last month to lift Ankara's veto in exchange for pledges on counter-terrorism and arms exports. Turkey has said it will closely monitor the implementation of the accord to ratify their membership bids.