---
title: "Turkey’s Erdogan signals Finland’s Nato bid may be considered over Sweden"
description: "ANKARA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan signalled on Sunday that Ankara may agree to Finland joining NATO ahead of Sweden, amid growing tensions with Stockholm."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-01-30-turkeys-erdogan-signals-finlands-nato-bid-may-be-considered-over-sweden/"
published: "2023-01-30T04:45:42"
updated: "2023-01-30T05:21:30"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 242
---

# Turkey’s Erdogan signals Finland’s Nato bid may be considered over Sweden

> ANKARA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan signalled on Sunday that Ankara may agree to Finland joining NATO ahead of Sweden, amid growing tensions with Stockholm.

By Reuters · Published 30 January 2023, 06:45 SAST · Updated 30 January 2023, 07:21 SAST

## Key points
- Turkey has suspended NATO talks with Sweden and Finland following a protest in Stockholm in which a far-right politician burned a copy of the Koran. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Sweden of harbouring militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party, and warned Finland to not make the same mistake. Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year, but their membership requires approval from all member countries including Turkey and Hungary. Turkey gave Sweden a list of 120 persons to extradite, however Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said his country wanted to restore dialogue with Turkey, which Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said was meaningless. Cavusoglu also said there was "no offer to evaluate Sweden's and Finland's NATO membership separately."
- Turkey has suspended talks with Sweden and Finland over their NATO applications
- Turkey accuses Sweden of harbouring militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said there was "no offer to evaluate Sweden's and Finland's NATO membership separately"
- Turkish President Erdogan said Finland should not make the same mistake as Sweden

## Content

"We may deliver Finland a different message (on their NATO application) and Sweden would be shocked when they see our message. But Finland should not make the same mistake Sweden did," Erdogan said in a televised speech aired on Sunday.

Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and need all member countries' approval to join. Turkey and Hungary are yet to ratify the Nordic countries' membership.

Turkey says Sweden, in particular, harbours what Ankara says are militants from the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.

"We gave Sweden a list of 120 persons and told them to extradite those terrorists in their country. If you don't extradite them, then sorry about that," Erdogan said, referring to Turkey's [agreement](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N34B0US&linkedFromStory=true) with Sweden and Finland last June over their NATO application.

Turkey [suspended](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3494OJ&linkedFromStory=true) NATO talks with Sweden and Finland last week after a protest in Stockholm in which a far-right politician burned a copy of the Koran.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said his country wanted to restore NATO dialogue with Turkey, but Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday it was meaningless to restart talks.

Cavusoglu also said there was "no offer to evaluate Sweden's and Finland's NATO membership separately."

EXPLAINER-Why is Turkey blocking Swedish and Finnish NATO membership?[Read full story](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N349456&linkedFromStory=true)

(Reporting by Omer Berberoglu; Writing by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Ros Russell)