Turkey says it has not "closed the door" to Sweden and Finland in NATO

Turkey has not "closed the door" to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, but wants to negotiate with the Nordic countries and stop what Ankara sees as terrorist activities, especially in Stockholm. This was stated by the official representative of the Turkish leader, Ibrahim Kalin, in a conversation with REUTERS.

“We don't close the door. But we are raising this issue as a matter of Turkish national security,” he stressed.

Kalın said that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated as a terrorist organization in Turkey, "is involved in fundraising and recruiting in Europe", especially in Sweden. According to him, the Swedish authorities must put an end to the existence of organizations, individuals and other forms of PKK presence.

“NATO membership is always a process. Let's see how things go. But this is the first point that we want to draw the attention of all [NATO] allies, as well as the Swedish authorities,” he added.

The day before, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he did not consider the possibility of Sweden and Finland joining the alliance as positive. According to him, the Scandinavian countries are "a guest house for terrorist organizations."

He recalled that members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party live in Sweden and are even represented in parliament.

Earlier, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic called the applications of Sweden and Finland to join NATO "a dangerous adventure." According to him, these countries cannot join the alliance until the law on elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina is changed in the interests of the Bosnian Croats.

Russian President Vladimir Putin , in turn, considered it a mistake for Finland to abandon its traditional policy of neutrality and join NATO, since there are no threats to the security of Helsinki. He warned that this move could have a negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations.

At the same time, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the United States would support Finland and Sweden joining NATO. Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg promised to promptly receive both countries in case of a request from them.