Turkey’s ‘No’ To Sweden, Finland Seeking NATO Membership

Ankara, May 19: Turkey has informed its NATO allies that it will say “no to the membership of Sweden and Finland” in the alliance, and will not change its position, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

“We do not want to make the same mistake twice. Therefore, we will continue our policy in this regard decisively. We told our partners that we would say no to Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership. We will continue our path in the same direction,” Erdogan said in his address to the youth of the nation.

Erdogan referred to Turkey’s discontent with Greece’s participation in NATO military activities starting in 1980, which he called a mistake that should not be allowed to be repeated.