Finland: We want to join NATO at the same time as Sweden

According to Fars International News Agency, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin emphasized in an interview on Sunday that the country has not yet made a decision to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

He, who was interviewed by Yle radio, once again emphasized the simultaneous membership of this country and Sweden in the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO).

Marin said in this interview: “We cannot influence the decisions of Turkey and Hungary. We have told them that we want to join NATO at the same time. From the point of view of NATO’s defense planning, it will be problematic for Finland to join NATO earlier and then for Sweden to join this military alliance later.”

Despite the statements of the Prime Minister of Finland that he will advance his country’s application for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) along with Sweden, it is now reported that Helsinki has changed its mind.

Senior Finnish sources said a few days ago that all parties in the country are ready to join the NATO military alliance without Sweden’s accompaniment if Turkey agrees only to Helsinki’s request.

These sources, whose names or positions were not disclosed, explained in an interview with Finnish media: “If Turkey or Hungary only agree to Finland’s request to join NATO and reject Sweden’s request, then Finland is ready to join this military alliance without Sweden. join”.

One of these sources stated: “We have to admit the fact that we are Russia’s neighbors. Sweden’s geopolitical position is very different from ours.”

According to this report, Finnish negotiators had reached an agreement with Turkey before Christmas 2022, and the issue of NATO membership without Sweden is a resolved issue for Helsinki, and Stockholm is also aware of this decision.

Apart from the opposition of only one small left-wing party in Finland to NATO membership without Sweden, the report shows that behind the scenes approaches differ from the public statements of the Helsinki authorities.

Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, referring to the possibility of evaluating Finland’s application for NATO membership apart from Sweden’s application, said that Ankara has fewer problems with Helsinki.

Two days after the desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden, which was already a precedent, this act of desecration was repeated in the Netherlands, and recently this act of desecration took place in Denmark. This action was accompanied by Turkey’s sharp reaction and the summoning of the ambassadors of the mentioned countries.

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