Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has assured that sending tanks to Ukraine by the West will not solve the war and will only «line the pockets» of arms producers.
Asked in an interview on the Turkish public channel TRT World, the Turkish president pointed out that sending tanks and weapons «does not solve the problem», which is why he called for promoting talks between Ukraine and Russia in order to reach «a lasting peace».
The Turkish leader’s remarks come weeks after Germany agreed to allow third countries to send German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and announced that it would send 14 of these tanks to Kiev. Following Germany’s decision, the United States announced the dispatch of its Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Erdogan has expressed that the country «expects sincere steps from Sweden in the fight against Islamophobia» after the Danish-Swedish extremist Rasmus Paludan burned copies of the Koran in front of the Turkish embassy in Sweden.
«Despite warnings, Sweden has turned a blind eye to the Koran burning and the Police protected the perpetrators. Hate crimes against Muslims are not acceptable,» the Turkish president reiterated, adding that «Sweden’s apologies will not solve the problems.»
Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in May, a decision prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, the two Nordic countries need unanimous approval from Atlantic Alliance member states.
Turkey has so far blocked Sweden and Finland from joining NATO, citing a lack of cooperation by the two countries in settling extraditions of members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered by Ankara to be a terrorist organization.
The Turkish government has thus accused Sweden and Finland of breaching the agreement signed in the margins of the NATO summit held in Madrid at the end of June.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
