Visit of Swedish, Finnish delegations to Turkiye postponed

The visit of the Swedish and Finnish delegations to Turkiye has been postponed.

These countries are reportedly waiting for a response from Ankara, according to the Turkish Milliyet newspaper.

Earlier, the Financial Times reported that Turkiye prevented the beginning of the process of considering applications of Finland and Sweden for NATO membership.

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that Ankara could not approve their NATO membership because it did not believe their promises regarding relations with representatives of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a terrorist organization banned in Turkiye.

 “If Turkiye agrees, then NATO "will not be a security organization, but will become a place with numerous representatives of terrorists,” Erdogan said.

New countries cannot be accepted into NATO without the unanimous consent of all NATO members under the military bloc’s charter.

President of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, wrote on Twitter that he held an open and direct phone talk with President Erdogan.

 “I have stated that as NATO allies, Finland and Turkiye will be committed to each other's security, and thus our relationship will be further strengthened. Finland condemns all types of terrorism. Our close dialogue is underway,” Niinisto tweeted.