[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] As Finland and Sweden have officially submitted their applications to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Turkey has once again strongly opposed the two countries' membership, drawing attention to the underlying reasons. Turkey cites its opposition on the grounds that the two countries support the Kurds, who are in conflict with Turkey, from behind the scenes. However, it is pointed out that Turkey is actually trying to leverage the approval of their membership to extract substantial support from the West.
According to the Financial Times (FT) on the 18th (local time), Finland and Sweden officially submitted their NATO membership applications on that day, and ambassadors stationed at NATO headquarters held their first meeting to process the applications. However, it is reported that all votes related to the membership have been halted due to Turkey's opposition.
The Turkish government continues to oppose the approval of the two countries' membership by setting conditions. Ibrahim Kalin, chief foreign policy advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Tayyip Erdogan, said at a press conference that "Finland and Sweden can only join NATO if concrete measures are taken to address security concerns," emphasizing, "If our conditions are not met, there will be no progress in Sweden and Finland's NATO membership."
On the surface, the Turkish government opposes Finland and Sweden's NATO membership on the grounds that both countries support the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Kurdish armed group in conflict with Turkey. The Turkish government criticizes the two countries for joining the arms embargo imposed at the EU level in 2019 and demands that the embargo be lifted first.
However, behind the scenes, it is known that Turkey is proposing various negotiations to the United States and the West, using the approval of the two countries' membership as a condition. According to foreign media such as CNN, the Turkish government is demanding that the U.S. government approve the purchase of the American F-35 fighter jets, which had previously been denied approval, and allow Turkey to rejoin the F-35 program.
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