ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Finland must publicly declare that it is lifting an arms embargo on Turkey in order to win Ankara’s approval of its NATO membership, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Tuesday.
Mevlut Cavusoglu was speaking ahead of the visit of Finnish Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen, who is due to discuss his country’s bid to join the military alliance with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar on Thursday.
“Finnish Defense Minister’s visit to Turkey is important because we have not yet heard a statement from Finland that they have lifted their arms embargo on us,” Cavusoglu told reporters. “From there we expect such a statement.”
Sweden and Finland abandoned their long-standing policy of military non-alignment and applied to join the alliance after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, amid fears Russia might target them next.
But NATO member Turkey has blocked bids by Sweden and Finland to join the military alliance, accusing the two Nordic countries of ignoring threats to Turkey from Kurdish militants and other groups it considers terrorists and urging them to counter to deal with these groups. Ankara has also pressured the two countries to lift a de facto ban on arms sales to Turkey.
Sweden announced in September that it would lift an arms embargo it imposed on Ankara in 2019 following Turkey’s military operation against Kurdish militia in Syria.
Turkey, which has accused the Nordic countries of ignoring threats against them from Kurdish militants and other groups it considers terrorists, has not backed their accession. The parliaments of Turkey and Hungary have yet to ratify their proposals. The 28 other NATO member states have already done so.