Finland must consider joining NATO without Sweden, its foreign minister said on Tuesday, writes euronews.
The statement comes after Turkey ruled out giving a green light to Sweden’s bid, following a Quran-burning protest.
Joint membership of the two Nordic countries remains “the first option” but “we obviously have to assess the situation, if something has happened which means that in the long term Sweden can no longer move forward”, said Pekka Haavisto.
However, he said it was “too early to tell”.
In May, both Sweden and Finland applied to join the western military alliance, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ankara has so far blocked their bids, in an attempt to get Helsinki and Stockholm to meet certain political demands, such as extraditing critics of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kurdish groups it claims are “terrorists”.
On Monday, Erdogan said Sweden could no longer count on his country’s support, following a Quran-burning protest in the Swedish capital that sparked protests in Turkey and the Muslim world.
