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Turkish Pres. hints may respond differently to Finland in NATO bid

ISTANBUL, Jan 29 (KUNA) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that his country may respond "differently" to Finland's NATO bid, which would "shock" Sweden.
"We may respond differently to Finland if necessary. Sweden would be shocked when we respond differently to Finland. But Finland should not make the same mistake," Erdogan said at a meeting with the youth in the country's Bilecik province.
Ankara gave a list of 120 people to Sweden for extradition to Turkiye, Erdogan said, adding: "You need to extradite these terrorists so that you can enter NATO." Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO last May, abandoning decades of military non-alignment, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine, which started on Feb. 24, 2022.
But Turkiye, a NATO member for more than 70 years, voiced objections, accusing the two countries of tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups including the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the July 15, 2016 coup attempt in Turkiye.
Last June, Turkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum at a NATO summit to address Ankara's legitimate security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership in the alliance.
In the memorandum, Sweden and Finland agreed not to provide support to the YPG/PYD and FETO, to prevent all activities of the terror groups, the extradition of terror suspects, to introduce new legislation to punish terrorist crimes, and not to implement national arms embargoes among the three countries. (end) ta.mb