Turkey: No to Sweden and Finland joining Nato

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ratcheted up his objection to Sweden and Finland joining Nato .

Sweden's prime minister had announced that the country would join Finland in seeking membership of the military alliance in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a historic shift that came after more than 200 years of military nonalignment in the Nordic country.

Erdogan accused the countries of failing to take a clear stance against Kurdish militants and of imposing military sanctions on Turkey.

"Neither country has an open, clear stance against terrorist organisations," Erdogan said at a joint news conference with the visiting Algerian president.

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"We cannot say 'yes' to those who impose sanctions on Turkey, on joining Nato which is a security organisation."

The Turkish leader described Sweden as an "incubation centre for terrorist organisations," claiming some members of its parliament supported the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

The group has waged an insurgency against Turkey since 1984, costing tens of thousands of lives.

Erdogan said Swedish and Finnish officials – who are expected in Turkey next week to discuss the issues – should not bother to come if they hope to convince Ankara into relaxing its objections to their membership.

Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson called the Nato bid "a historic change in our country's security policy" as she addressed lawmakers in the Swedish capital.

"We will inform Nato that we want to become a member of the alliance," she said. "Sweden needs formal security guarantees that come with membership in Nato."

End of non-alignment

Andersson, who leads the centre-left Social Democrats, said Sweden would hand in its Nato application jointly with Finland.

Flanked by opposition leader Ulf Kristersson, Andersson said her government also was preparing a bill that would allow Sweden to receive military assistance from other nations in case of an attack.

"The Russian leadership thought they could bully Ukraine and deny them and other countries self-determination,” Kristersson said. "They thought they could scare Sweden and Finland and drive a wedge between us and our neighbours and allies. They were wrong."

Once a regional military power, Sweden has avoided military alliances since the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

Like Finland it remained neutral throughout the Cold War, but formed closer relations with Nato after the 1991 Soviet collapse.

They no longer see themselves as neutral after joining the European Union in 1995, but have remained non-aligned militarily until now.

After being firmly against Nato membership for decades, public opinion in both countries shifted following Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, with record levels of support for joining the alliance.

The Swedish and Finnish governments swiftly initiated discussions across political parties about Nato membership and reached out to the US, Britain, Germany and other Nato countries for their support.

On Sunday, Andersson’s party reversed their long-standing position that Sweden must remain nonaligned, giving Nato membership overwhelming support in Parliament. Only the small Left and Green parties objected when the issue was discussed by lawmakers on Monday.

Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar, whose calls for a referendum on the matter were dismissed by the government, said joining Nato would raise tensions in the Baltic Sea region.

"It does not help Ukraine," she said.

Andersson said Sweden would make clear that it doesn’t want nuclear weapons or permanent Nato bases on its soil – similar conditions as neighbouring Norway and Denmark insisted on when the alliance was formed after World War II.

Putin drops objection

Moscow has repeatedly warned Finland, which shares a 1340-kilometre border with Russia, and Sweden of repercussions should they pursue Nato membership. But Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday seemed to downplay the significance of their move.

Speaking to a Russian-led military alliance of six ex-Soviet states, Putin said Moscow "does not have a problem" with Sweden or Finland applying for Nato membership, but that "the expansion of military infrastructure onto this territory will, of course, give rise to our reaction in response.”

US signals approval of Sweden's Nato bid

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the US would move quickly to approve Sweden's application to join Nato.

McConnell said during a press conference in Stockholm that while other countries in the Western alliance may be able to approve Sweden's application sooner, he had no doubt it will be approved in the US Congress, likely by August.

"We anticipate moving this rapid – in a more rapid fashion than past applications for Nato," McConnell said

"We hope to approve it before August," he said. "We are confident it will be approved."

The minority leader was visiting the region with a delegation of Republican senators in a show of support as the region confronts Russian aggression with its invasion of Ukraine.

AP