(Berlin) The head of Finnish diplomacy Pekka Haavisto said he was convinced, on Saturday, of the possibility of reaching an agreement with Turkey despite the hostility displayed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the entry into NATO of his country and Sweden.
Posted at 12:18 p.m.
Speaking ahead of a series of talks with NATO members, including Turkey, in Berlin, Pekka Haavisto said he was “convinced that in the end we will find a solution and that Finland and Sweden will become members of NATO.
The Finnish minister and his Swedish counterpart Ann Linde want to take advantage of the NATO meeting scheduled until Sunday to meet the head of Turkish diplomacy Mevlut Cavusoglu and try to lift the opposition expressed by Ankara to this integration of the two Nordic countries .
Recep Tayyip Erdogan notably criticized Sweden and Finland for serving as a “hostel for PKK terrorists”, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, but also the European Union and the United States. United.
The accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO would be a “mistake”, judged Friday the Turkish president.
Unanimity is necessary to bring a new member into the alliance, putting Turkey in a position to block these two candidacies, the formalization of which is expected in the very next few days.
The Finnish president also called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Saturday to inform him of his country’s imminent candidacy.
Referring to this telephone conversation, the Finnish minister considered that it was “very important that we communicate with our neighbor”, even if “we do not ask for any permission for our political steps”.
Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 swung political and public opinion in Finland, and neighboring Sweden, in favor of NATO membership as a safeguard against Russian aggression.
The two countries have long cooperated with the Western military alliance and should be able to join it soon.
Given the tensions linked to the Russian offensive, the Finnish minister nevertheless underlined that it was essential, for the security of his country, that as many NATO members as possible “announce clear support” for Finland during the period separating it from its official entry into the alliance.