Turkey refuses to approve Finland and Sweden's application for NATO membership, sparking a major debate within the alliance. Turkey is the only country that opposes increasing the number of NATO member states. In the United States, they even started talking about excluding Ankara from the organization, so that the Turks would not hinder the expansion of NATO.

On Thursday, Turkey blocked the start of membership talks between Finland and Sweden, complaining that the two countries were too lenient with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Gülenist movement; to two groups that Turkey considers to be terrorist organizations, writes Newsweek .

The two countries rejected accusations of supporting Kurdish militants - the PKK is also considered a terrorist organization by the European Union - and rejected the extradition of the persons requested by Turkey.

Ankara's protest could pose a real challenge to a possible Finnish and Swedish accession, since the admission of new NATO members requires the unanimous approval of all members of the alliance.

Can Turkey be excluded from NATO?

The exclusion of the Turks from NATO is already being mentioned in the United States.

Earlier, in 2016 and 2019, after Turkey invaded northern Syria, there were proposals to exclude Turkey from the alliance.

Although there is no possibility of suspending or even excluding members in the North Atlantic Treaty that regulates NATO, the alliance can withdraw support from a given country if it deviates from the basic principles contained in the treaty.

According to Ronald Grigor Suny, an American historian and professor of political science at the University of Michigan, it is highly unlikely that in the future NATO would take such a drastic step that would completely alienate such a strategic ally as Turkey.

In the professor's opinion, Turkish President Erdogan will eventually approve Finland and Sweden joining NATO, but he will demand a price from the other members of the alliance.

Source origo.hu

In our opening picture: Recep Tayyip Erdogan Source: AFP/2021 Anadolu Agency/Emin Sansar