NATO expansion requires unanimous consent of all members. Turkey, a problem child in the alliance for decades, could hold up the current applications of Sweden and Finland to join the organization.

The reason has little to do with either country. Turkey is annoyed that the West funds and supplies a group allied to the PKK, a group Turkey considers a terrorist organization. So Turkey won’t say yes to Sweden and Finland until they get some action on that issue. They also want 33 individuals in Swedish and Finnish jails to be extradited back to face terrorist charges in Turkey. Only one problem. Erdogan thinks a lot of people, basically anyone who opposes him, are terrorists.

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This is a product of his Islamist authoritarian rule that has gone on for more than a while. Media and opposition groups gave been cracked down on and relations with other NATO members like Greece haven’t been good for decades.

So before Erdogan tries to blackmail NATO he may want to think of the consequences. NATO could pass a measure to ignore Erdogan or even throw him out of the alliance. Given NATO is and should be a grouping of free nations, that may not be such a bad idea.

FNC: “Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said leaders from Sweden and Finland should not expect its support for NATO membership until Western nations kowtow to its demands.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg applauded the formal bids to join the alliance and called it a ‘good day at a critical moment for our security’ as Russia continues to wage war in Ukraine.”

Breaking News: Turkey blocked NATO’s initial effort to fast-track Finland’s and Sweden’s applications to join the alliance, according to a senior diplomat. https://t.co/WTrg4uwz1U

— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 18, 2022

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“All allies agree on the importance of NATO enlargement. We all agree that we must stand together, and we all agree that this is a historic moment which we must seize,” Stoltenberg said.

But Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has other ideas. “Our only expectation from our NATO allies is for them to show the same good faith to Turkey’s efforts aimed at protecting its own borders and reinforcing its security and stability,” Erdogan told members of parliament Wednesday. “We expect our allies to first understand our sensitivities and then to respect and finally, if possible, to support.”

“NATO’s enlargement is meaningful to us only to the extent that our sensitivities are respected. Asking us for support for NATO membership while providing every kind of support to the PKK/YPG terrorist organization amounts to incoherence, to say the least,” he said.

He further criticized Sweden and Finland’s refusal to send back to Turkey 33 people Turkey has requested extradition on for their links to terrorist organizations.

“So you won’t give us back terrorists, but you ask us for NATO membership? NATO is an entity for security, an organization for security. Therefore, we cannot say ‘yes’ to this security organization being deprived of security,” he added. Big talk. Hopefully NATO will call his bluff.

This piece was written by David Kamioner on May 18, 2022. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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