Finland approves military sales to Türkiye amid NATO row

Finland’s defence ministry said on January 25 the country had issued the first commercial export license for military material to Türkiye since 2019 — a key demand for Ankara to approve Helsinki’s NATO bid.

Riikka Pitkanen, special adviser at the ministry, told AFP that the export license granted concerned steel that would be used for armor, The Defense Post reports.

Finland had suspended new licenses for military exports to Türkiye in October 2019 due to Türkiye ’s military operation in Syria.

“Since October 2019, no commercial export licences have been issued to Türkiye ,” Pitkanen said.

The resumption of military exports was one of the conditions set by Ankara to give the green light for the Finnish and Swedish NATO bids, which are currently stalled.

In late September, Swedish authorities lifted a ban on military exports to Türkiye .

The announcement comes after Ankara on Tuesday postponed NATO accession talks with Sweden and Finland, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Stockholm for allowing protests that included the burning of the Koran outside Türkiye ’s Swedish embassy.

The Finnish defense minister’s decision was immediately criticized by one of the parties in Prime Minister Sanna Marin‘s coalition government.

“The Left Alliance does not support the export of defence materiel to countries at war or violating human rights. We believe that Finland should not grant an export licence for protective steel to Türkiye ,” party leader Li Andersson wrote on Twitter.