World News: Turkey objects to Sweden’s bid for Nato membership – Gulf Digital News

World News: Turkey objects to Sweden’s bid for Nato membership – Gulf Digital News

STOCKHOLM: Swedish membership of Nato would boost national security and help stabilise the Nordic and Baltic regions, Foreign Minister Ann Linde said yesterday, a day after neighbour Finland said it would seek to join the US-led alliance without delay.

However, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday it was not possible for Nato-member Turkey to support Swedish and Finnish membership because, he said, the two countries were “home to many terrorist organisations”.

Turkey has in the past criticised Sweden and other Western European countries for their handling of organisations deemed terrorist by Ankara, including Kurdish militant groups PKK and YPG and followers of US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced Sweden – and its closest military partner Finland – to publicly pick sides after remaining outside the military alliance since it was founded in 1949 to counter the Soviet Union in the Cold War.

Stockholm is widely expected to follow Helsinki’s lead and could apply for entry to the 30-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as early as Monday.

“Swedish Nato membership would raise the threshold for military conflicts and thus have a conflict-preventing effect in northern Europe,” Linde told reporters as she presented the conclusions of an all-party security review that examined