Turkey may respond “differently” to Finland’s NATO bid than to Sweden’s, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, according to state news agency Anadolu, amid rising tensions between Stockholm and Ankara.
Both Sweden and Finland have applied to join the 30-member military alliance after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked renewed security concerns across the region. All NATO members, of which Turkey is one, must accept their bids for membership to be approved.
“We may respond differently to Finland if necessary. Sweden would be shocked when we respond differently to Finland,” Erdogan said at a meeting with youth in the country’s Bilecik province.
Turkey has previously urged Sweden to take a clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and a group it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.
Erdogan said Ankara has given a list to Sweden of 120 people to be extradited to Turkey, according to Anadolu.
“You need to extradite these terrorists so that you can enter NATO,” Erdogan said Sunday.
Last week, Ankara called for a February meeting between Turkey, Sweden and Finland to be postponed, according to Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber, which cited unnamed diplomatic sources.
More context: Turkey-Sweden relations suffered a further blow this month following a rally outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm at which an anti-immigration politician set a copy of the Quran alight. The incident sparked anger in Ankara, where protesters took to the streets and burned the Swedish flag outside the Swedish Embassy in response.
