HELSINKI — Finland’s foreign minister suggested on Tuesday that the country may consider joining NATO without neighbouring Sweden if Turkey continues to block their joint bid to enter the military alliance, according to AP.
Pekka Haavisto later backpedaled, but his comments were the first time a leading government official in either Nordic country appeared to raise doubts about becoming NATO members together at a time when the alliance is seeking to present a united front in the face of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Sweden and Finland rushed to apply for NATO membership following Moscow’s operation, abandoning their long-standing non-alignment policy. Their accession needs the approval of all existing NATO members, including Turkey, which has so far blocked the expansion, saying Sweden in particular needs to crack down on exiled Kurdish militants and their sympathisers.
On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Sweden again not to expect support for its application following weekend protests in Stockholm by an anti-Islam activist and pro-Kurdish groups.
Asked a day later whether it still made sense for Finland to proceed together with the Swedes, Haavisto told broadcaster YLE that his country would have to “evaluate the situation if it turns out that Sweden’s application is stalling for a long time to come.”
Haavisto later told reporters in Parliament that his comment was “imprecise” and that Finland’s ambition to enter NATO jointly with Sweden remained unchanged.
He said he had spoken with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who had stressed to Haavisto that the military bloc would like to see the two nations join simultaneously.
“But of course there have been raised concerns within NATO on how the (recent) incidents in Sweden will affect the schedule,” Haavisto said.
Until now, Sweden and Finland had been committed to joining the alliance together.
“This is the first crack in the so far rather impressive unity between Sweden and Finland,” said Paul Levin, director of the Institute for Turkish Studies at Stockholm University. “Finland is currently somewhat of an innocent victim of the continued provocations by Swedish groups critical of NATO accession, protected by the very liberal Swedish freedom of speech laws. If Turkey persists in blocking accession, I suspect that Finland will at some point have to go it alone.”
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said Stockholm was “in contact with Finland to find out what is really meant.” In a statement to AP, he said Sweden respects the “agreement between Sweden, Finland and Turkey regarding our NATO membership.”
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