Turkiye blocks start of negotiations over accession of Finland, Sweden to NATO

Turkiye has blocked the start of negotiations in NATO on the entry of Finland and Sweden into the alliance.

Ankara is demanding that Sweden and Finland publicly denounce not only the PKK, but also its affiliates before being allowed to join the bloc. The Turkish officials said that designating the PKK as a terrorist organization isn’t enough: the Nordic applicants must do more to clamp down on PKK sympathizers it says are active in their countries.

Turkiye also wants Sweden and Finland to put an end to arms-export restrictions they imposed on Turkey, along with several other European Union members, after its fight in Syria to push the YPG back from the frontier, the officials said, Bloomberg reports.

Earlier on May 18, Sweden and Finland officially applied to join NATO. The ambassadors of the two countries handed the documents over to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at headquarters in Brussels. According to Stoltenberg, the alliance is counting on quick steps to formalize the membership of these countries in the bloc.