Turkey has postponed planned talks with Sweden and Finland on their potential NATO bids following a Quran-burning protest in Sweden that took place in front of the Turkish embassy, the Turkish broadcaster TRT World reported Tuesday.
The report cited anonymous Turkish diplomatic sources who said the meeting was set to take place in Brussels next month but was postponed after a request from Ankara.
Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto signaled the talks would be delayed in comments on Tuesday, saying a “time-out” was necessary. “A time-out is needed before we return to the three-way talks and see where we are when the dust has settled after the current situation, so no conclusions should be drawn yet,” he said. “I think there will be a break for a couple of weeks.”
On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey wouldn’t support Sweden’s NATO membership due to the protest, which was led by Rasmus Paludan, a Danish-Sweden politician who leads the Stram Kurs (Hard Line) Party in Denmark.
Sweden and Finland have said that their NATO memberships were linked and that one wouldn’t join the alliance without the other, but Haavisto suggested Helsinki could consider changing the policy. When asked if it still made sense for Finland to only proceed with Sweden, he said his country would have to “evaluate the situation if it turns out that Sweden’s application is stalling for a long time to come.”
Later in the day, Haavisto said it was “imprecise” that Finland has changed its policy of pursuing membership with Sweden. But his earlier comments were still significant as it marked the first time an official from either country suggested they might not become NATO members together.
Finland joining NATO would heighten tensions with Moscow significantly as it shares an over 800-mile border with Russia. The Russian military has plans to expand and reinforce its positions in western Russia and along the border if Finland ends up joining the alliance.
Just buying time until the elections in Turkey are completed.
I will happily accept non-expansion of NATO by whatever possible circumstances.
Count me in!
Finland is now fin…!
There are two scenarios: 1 – Erdogan is replaced by a pro-American politician this year. 2 – Turkey is kicked out from NATO.
Do you think even NATO is dumb enough to expel the country that controls the Dardanelles and the Bosporus?/*
With pro-American president, Turkey, even if not the member of NATO, is better for Pentagon than Turkey, with Erdogan as president, in NATO. He will not allow Sweden and Finland to join NATO any soon. Black sea is not of a great value for NATO navy. Russian hypersonic missiles are waiting for them on Crimean coast.
Correct. Even with the Bosporus Strait open to navigation by NATO vessels, it would be the worst place to pick to take on the Russian navy. In the event of naval hostilities between the US and Russia, the sounder strategy would be to take out the Russian naval base at Tartus and then lie in wait in the Mediterranean for any Russian vessels attempting to come out via the Bosporus.
The strategic importance of the Black Sea has nothing to do with its value, or lack thereof, to US-NATO naval war-fighting, which is unlikely to occur anyway.
The Black Sea is important because it is the location of Russia’s only warm-water ports, because very large quantities of crucial commodities are transported through its waters, because critical communications and energy transport facilities run beneath it, and because two NATO members plus Georgia and Ukraine would be cut off from much of world trade if they lost reliable use of the Bosporus and Dardanelles.
The people running NATO routinely do very stupid stuff, but they probably aren’t dumb enough to expel Turkey.
Who is the dip-sh-t that though Quran burning was a smart idea?
Some anti-immigration, anti-Islam dipsh-t from a political party that settles for publicity because it can’t get votes.
Is it looking like a World War yet?……