SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 28 March 2024, Thursday |

Finland doesn’t take Turkish woes seriously, Erdogan’s spox tells paper

If Finland wants Turkey to admit it into NATO, it must stop “supporting” what Turkey deems a terrorist group and take Turkey’s security concerns seriously, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokeswoman told a Finnish newspaper on Tuesday.

“The issue isn’t that Finland doesn’t understand Turkey. Finland refuses to consider Turkey’s security concerns “Fahrettin Altun, the Turkish President’s Communications Director, informed Finland’s largest daily Helsingin Sanomat via email.

Turkey has opposed to Finland and Sweden joining the Western defense alliance because they host persons related to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant organization and others it considers terrorists, and because Finland and Sweden stopped exporting weaponry to Turkey in 2019.

Altun’s remarks echoed those of Erdogan’s top foreign policy adviser, Ibrahim Kalin, who urged the two Nordic countries on Monday to “take serious steps against terrorist organizations that jeopardize Turkey’s national security.”

“Finland’s government must finally decide whether joining NATO or defending these kinds of groups is more important,” Altun told the daily.

    Source:
  • Reuters