Finland Refuses to Join NATO Before Sweden

Finland will not join NATO before Sweden and will wait until the approval of Sweden's application to join the North Atlantic alliance. This was stated by the country's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pekka Haavisto, before the start of the "People and Defense" conference taking place in the Swedish city of Selén, as reported by Aftonbladet.

"Finland does not want to join NATO as soon as possible, so we can wait until Sweden receives the appropriate signal," Haavisto said, adding that Helsinki and Stockholm will complete the process of joining the alliance together.

In turn, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stated during the conference that Stockholm cannot meet all the conditions set by Turkey regarding the alliance's expansion. "Turkey confirms that we have done what we promised, but also says it wants things that we cannot or do not want to give," he clarified.

Both Sweden and Finland submitted their applications to join the alliance on May 18, 2022, but Turkey opposed the membership of the two countries. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan explained that both countries must clarify their stance on terrorism more explicitly. This concerns the status of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is not banned in Finland and Sweden but is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey.