Finland should consider joining NATO without Sweden, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said on Tuesday after the Turkish president ruled out Ankara’s support for Sweden’s candidacy.
Joint accession of the two Nordic countries is the “first option”, but “we have to assess the situation” in case “something comes up that prevents Sweden from making progress”, the head of Finnish diplomacy told public television Yle in Finland.
Still, the foreign minister added that “it is still too early to take a position”.
This is the first time that Helsinki admits a new form of membership in the Atlantic Alliance, without Sweden.
After the new invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO, but Turkey, an allied country, is setting conditions not to veto the decision.
In particular, Ankara calls for a new attitude from the two countries towards the Kurdish refugees who are in exile in Sweden and Finland and are considered “terrorists” by the Turkish government.
Source: DN
