Turkey’s leader opposes letting Finland, Sweden join NATO

By JARI TANNER and SUZAN FRASER
Associated Press

HELSINKI (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country is “not favorable” toward Finland and Sweden joining NATO. His statement on Friday indicates that Turkey could use its own membership in the Western military alliance to veto moves to admit the two Nodic countries. The Turkish leader explained his opposition by alleging that Sweden and other Scandinavian countries support Kurdish militants and others whom Turkey considers to be terrorists. He also accused Greece of using the alliance against Turkey. Erdogan didn’t say outright that he would block any accession attempts. However, NATO makes all its decisions by consensus, meaning each of the 30 member countries has a potential veto over who can join.