Finnish Foreign Minister Peeka Haavisto believes that last week’s attack in Istanbul, for which the Turkish government has blamed armed Kurdish groups, will have a negative impact on the accession negotiations of Finland and Sweden, home to many members of this community; talks over which Ankara exerts influence as a member state.
Ankara initially opposed the entry of both countries after accusing them of remaining passive in the presence of individuals suspected, according to Ankara, of belonging to organizations such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), accused of the Istanbul bombing and described by Turkey as a terrorist organization. The PKK has denied any involvement and condemned the attack.
Now, Sunday’s attack on Istiklal Avenue, which left at least six dead and 81 wounded, shows for the minister that Turkey wants to raise these concerns about terrorism and this proves in some way that it is a problem also within the country».
«It is an issue that Turkey is raising, and that it has every right in the world to raise,» the minister said.
The new Turkish military operation that began Sunday against Kurdish groups in northern Syria and Iraq in retaliation for the attack comes as Turkey continues to insist on full cooperation from Sweden and Finland in fighting the PKK and Kurdish militants in Syria and deporting «terrorists» before approving its bids to join NATO.
Haavisto, however, has been reluctant to lump Finland and Sweden together because in the latter country «there is a much larger Kurdish minority» that originates «from Turkey and other countries in the region and, in that sense, is politically more visible,» he explained during a security forum held in Manama, Bahrain.
An agreement worked out at the NATO summit in June allowed the accession process for both countries to move forward and since then 28 of the 30 allies have ratified their entry, with Turkey and Hungary as the remaining holdouts.
«Of course, it depends on the member countries that haven’t ratified in what order they will ratify and what the consequences of that are,» Haavisto has explained, «and we expect both Turkey and Hungary to ratify both countries at the same time,» according to his comments, picked up by Bloomberg.
