Finland has agreed to become a member of NATO, but Turkey has objected to Sweden

NATO President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated that Ankara is willing to accept Finland as a member of the organization before taking any action on Sweden's membership.

Erdoğan made such comments in a TV discussion with young voters. A few days ago, Ankara rejected the talks of joining NATO with the two countries.

NATO had hoped to expand to 32 countries at a summit in Lithuania's capital Vilnius next July. However, as Turkey did not agree to accept Finland and Sweden, NATO's decision was threatened.

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Sweden

• But our message may make Sweden uneasy. Erdoğan said this in a televised address on Sunday.
  Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO after military operations in Ukraine began last year. However, the inclusion of new members in the military alliance requires the approval of all existing members. As a result, despite the consent of other countries, the NATO membership of the two Nordic countries is blocked due to the objection of Turkey and Hungary.

Ankara has been accusing Sweden of supporting the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its members. We have asked Sweden to extradite them with a list of 120 people, Erdoğan said. If they are unhappy with it, we are also sorry about that (NATO membership).

Finland

• Finland and Sweden have recently abandoned their decades-old stance of military neutrality. In the face of Russia's operations in Ukraine, the two countries have expressed interest and applied to join the largest active military alliance in the world.

While other NATO members have agreed to accept Finland and Sweden as members of the alliance, Turkey and Hungary have yet to accept either country. However, it is believed that the country may approve the membership of Finland and Sweden in the Hungarian parliament session that starts in February.