Finland responds to Erdogan: It is clear that PKK is a “Terrorist Organization”
The Finnish intelligence chief confirmed that his country is firmly fighting international terrorism and is not granting asylum to foreign fighters.
Ante Biltari responded to allegations by high-ranking Turkish politicians that Helsinki hosts terrorist organizations such as members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey, saying: “We are not a paradise for terrorism. We operate according to our laws and procedures and we follow the list of terrorist organizations in the European Union”, is what emerges in an interview published today on the site web of the British newspaper Financial Times.
He added: “We have been following the PKK’s activities for many years questyear we raise the question of financing the activities of the PKK. We take it very seriously. It is clearly a terrorist organization. “
Biltari also explained that Finland and Turkey had previously cooperated in very effective way on counter-terrorism issues, in particularly in the context of the war in Syria.
Nothing has changed
Speaking of the situation on the Russian-Finnish border in the context of Finland’s possible membership of NATO, after Helsinki applied to join the alliance, he noted that “nothing has changed”. “Everything is pretty calm, let’s hope it stays that way,” Beltari said.
Today, Sunday, during a conference of the ruling Justice and Development Party, the Turkish president stressed that “as long as our demands are not met, we will not change our position on NATO expansion”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country’s position on Sweden and Finland’s entry into NATO will not change without meeting his demands.
Ankara refuses
It is noteworthy that Finland and Sweden applied last month (May 2022) to join NATO, abandoning years of neutrality and non-alignment policy, in light of the military operation launched by Russia in Ukraine last February, which reinforced their fears.
However, Ankara, which accuses the two countries of harboring elements of the “Kurdistan”, which it classifies as a terrorist, announced its rejection of this step, calling for stopping its support for this party and handing over a number of wanted persons, as well as lifting the embargo on arms exports to it.
But Helsinki and Stockholm denied these accusations, stressing that they did not provide any support to Kurdistan.
The inclusion of any new member of the defense alliance requires the approval of all thirty members, which hinders NATO’s expansion plans, despite the assertion of a number of active Western countries, led by the United States, that the Turkish position is reversible.
