Turkey Reluctant To Support Sweden And Finland To Become NATO Members, President Erdogan: No Need To Send Envoys, Their Attitude Is Not Clear

President Erdogan attending the 2021 NATO leaders' summit. (Twitter/@jensstoltenberg)

JAKARTA - Sweden and Finland's desire to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) met another obstacle, as the Turkish president said he would not agree to either.

Sweden and Finland need each of the 30 NATO members to approve their applications. The ratification process is expected to take up to a year, despite Turkish objections.

At a press conference Monday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sweden and Finland should not bother sending delegations to Ankara to persuade Turkey to support their offer.

"None of these countries have a clear and open attitude towards terrorist organizations," President Erdogan said, citing Reuters, May 17.

"How can we trust them?" he continued.

Turkey surprised its NATO allies last week by saying it would not view their application in a positive light, particularly citing their history of accepting members of groups deemed terrorists by Ankara.

President Erdoan reiterated Turkey will not accept their offer to join NATO, calling Sweden a "hatching ground" for terrorist organizations, and adding that it has terrorists in its parliament.

Turkey's objections, which NATO leaders initially hoped would not cause major delays, now appear to be serious obstacles.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Source: Presidency of The Republic of Turkiye)

The Swedish Foreign Ministry's office said earlier on Monday that senior representatives of Sweden and Finland planned to travel to Turkey for talks to address Ankara's objections.

"They came to Turkey on Monday. Did they come to convince us? Sorry, but they must not tire themselves out," President Erdogan said of the planned visit.

President Erdoan further said NATO would become 'a place where representatives of terrorist organizations are concentrated', if the two countries joined forces.

Ankara says Sweden and Finland are hosting people it says are linked to groups it considers terrorists, namely the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and followers of Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt.

Separately, Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber said on Monday that Sweden and Finland had not yet given approval for the repatriation of 33 people Turkey had requested.

Not only that, President Erdoan also emphasized that Turkey will oppose NATO's offer from those who impose sanctions on his country. Sweden and Finland have imposed an arms export embargo on Turkey following its attack on Syria in 2019.

However, NATO and the United States have said they believe Turkey will not withhold Finland and Sweden's membership.

Diplomats said President Erdogan would be under pressure to surrender because Finland and Sweden would greatly strengthen NATO in the Baltic Sea.

Earlier, President Erdogan's spokesman said on Saturday that Turkey had not closed the door for Sweden and Finland to join NATO but wanted negotiations and a crackdown on what it saw as terrorist activities.