Explained | Why is Turkey against NATO membership for Finland, Sweden?

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is considered to be the primary motivation behind Finland and Sweden’s interest in joining the military alliance.

The story so far: After decades of political neutrality, Nordic countries Finland and Sweden have applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), a military alliance that includes European countries, the U.S., and Canada.

Finland announced its intention to join NATO on Sunday, while Sweden, another Nordic country that has followed the path of military non-alignment for two centuries, followed suit shortly after . Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is considered to be the primary motivation behind Finland and Sweden’s interest in joining the military alliance.

NATO member Turkey has, however, announced that it will not support the Nordic countries’ plans to join the alliance. Any membership bid to NATO must be unanimously supported by all its members in order to be successful.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said Turkey would not allow Finland and Sweden to join NATO because of their stand on Kurdish groups that have been banned by Turkey, the U.S., and the European Union (EU). According to Turkey, Sweden has been lenient towards the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK was established in 1978 by Abdullah Ocalan and has waged an insurgency in Turkey with the objective of establishing an independent Kurdish state.

Turkey is also against the supply of arms to the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militant organisation that operates in Syria. Turkey views the YPG as an affiliate of the PKK. The U.S. armed Syrian Kurds to fight against the Islamic State during the country’s civil war, a move that was not appreciated by Ankara.

Turkey has also alleged that the YPG used Swedish-made AT-4 anti-tank weapons in attacks on Turkish forces in Syria, although it has not directly said Sweden was responsible for the attacks since many countries have access to the weaponry.

Sanctions by Sweden on Turkey are another reason why Mr. Erdogan is against granting NATO membership to the Nordic countries. “We will not say yes to those (countries) who apply sanctions to Turkey to join security organisation NATO,” he said. Sweden suspended arms sale to Turkey in 2019 over their military action in Syria.