Turkey to reject Sweden and Finland's bid to join NATO

Reuters News ^ | May !9, 2022

[Navy Patriot]

Turkey has told allies that it will reject Sweden and Finland's membership to NATO, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in a video posted on his Twitter account on Thursday.

Finland and Sweden formally applied on Wednesday to join U.S.-led NATO, a decision spurred by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Turkey's objections have come as a surprise to the other members of the alliance.

...

The Turkish president said Sweden and Finland harbour and finance "terrorists" and supply them with weapons, repeating Ankara's accusation that the countries supports groups that it deems terrorists, namely the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group and Syrian Kurdish YPG, which it also views as a terrorist group closely tied to the PKK.

[mac_truck]

[Manuel OKelley]

as much as I dislike them they are doing far more than most other nato countries.

Turkey controls access to black sea, etc and probably has a much more formidable military than any other nato member except the US.

The war mongers could maybe kick them out and get Sweden?Finland in to help push for a higher escalation and you wind up with a Turkey that is far more aligned with Russia but that would be an awful idea strategically even if it hurts people’s feelings.

[Wallace T.]

Turkey controls the Bosporus Straits. Since the days of Peter the Great at least, Russia has sought warm water seaports and access to the Mediterranean Sea. The Crimean War was fought to restrain Russian access to those straits. Turkey is preventing additional Russian warships from joining the Black Sea fleet. If Turkey leaves NATO, they can let the Russian Navy full access to the Black Sea, which is Ukraine’s underbelly. Turkey adds more to NATO than Sweden and Finland would. Replacing an asset with a liability is never a good idea.

[wiseprince]

Brilliant...make a big deal about it in public, don’t communicate thr plan with the allies and have the fight in the open.

[Navy Patriot]

Advice from GloboHomo!

[JonPreston]

Turkey adds more to NATO than Sweden and Finland would. Replacing an asset with a liability is never a good idea.

True.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

I not sure why everyone in here is disparaging the Swedish and Finnish militaries. The Swedes in particular are far more competent than their weenies politics would suggest.

Can't kick Turkey out anyway, but an the alternative could be a parallel multilateral alliance including all or most of NATO other than Turkey. Just slap a different label on it.

[Reily]

The Swedes make excellent weapons. Their jet aircraft designs are first rate. In spite of their pacifist posturing, they are also a major supplier in the international arms market.

I would not sell the Finns short either.

[Thunder90]

Google “Soviet symbology in Victory Day Parade”. Also, Putin has kept Lenin’s carcass on display in Moscow in his Masoleum, and has even stood upon the Masoleum where Soviet dictators reviewed parades in the past. And read the screeds coming from the Communist Party Russian Federation. They back Putin 100% on Ukraine.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

The Swedes make excellent weapons. Their jet aircraft designs are first rate. In spite of their pacifist posturing, they are also a major supplier in the international arms market. I would not sell the Finns short either.

Exactly. Those mocking them are letting their political preferences dictate their views of reality rather than the other way around.

[Thunder90]

[Wallace T.]

If Putin's Russian Army were more competent than their Ukrainian results have shown, there would be considerable risk in the inclusion of Finland into NATO. Hundreds of miles of border with Russia. While Stalin failed to conquer Finland in 1940, that country was ruled by Tzarist Russia for a century before 1918 and by Sweden before that. A more competent and better equipped Russian Army under a more effective leader would pose a serious risk to Scandinavia, Poland, and the Baltic States.

NATO members will have to sharply increase military spending, at the expense of domestic programs, to restrain a post-Putin Russia. That country has zero experience with democracy, passing from absolute monarchy to Communism to strongman rule. There is no reason to believe there will be real change in Moscow.

[oldvirginian]

“I have no idea what Turkey is doing in NATO in the first place.”

There exists this thing called the Bosporus Strait. Who controls the Bosporus controls movement between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Back in the days of the USSR that was a big deal. It still is to Ukraine. Turkey closed the Strait to Russian shipping and the only Russian naval forces available to aid in Ukraine were those already in Crimea.
With the fall of the USSR the Strait isn’t as important as previously thought.

BUT, imagine the Strait in the hands of a madman whose world outlook is molded by the scribblings of a 7th century pedophile, murderer and rapist.......or any other person with a desire for conquest.

[dfwgator]

And if history has taught us anything, One Baddie always replaces another, and it’s usually somebody that helped us get rid of the previous Baddie.

[oldvirginian]

“Erdogan is Putin lite. They both need to be escorted to the trash heap.”

Make Istanbul Constantinople again!

[Wuli]

Time to expel Turkey from NATO and unite NATO in western Europe with the addition of Sweden and Finland. Tell Erdogan he can go pound sand.

[Dogbert41]

I think Boris Johnson went to those countries and sold them a bill of goods.

[Lurker]

“Do you think our Neocons will catch on to the game?”

Catch on? Hell, they’re running the game.

L

[JonPreston]

100% correct

[Lurker]

If the Ukrainians want our “aid” they can pay cash on the barrel head for it.

And I’m not sure I even want that anymore.

This is a long simmering border dispute that’s been going on for the last 500 years. It’ll be going on for the next 500 years. I’m afraid I let my extreme dislike of the Russians cloud my judgment somewhat.

The Russians have been actively aiding our enemies in wartime all the way back to Korea. So I hope I can be forgiven for wanting to see them get a bit of payback no matter how odious the people doing that may be.

L