Turkey's leader opposes letting Finland, Sweden join NATO

HELSINKI (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that his country is “not favorable” toward Finland and Sweden joining NATO, indicating Turkey could use its membership in the Western military alliance to veto moves to admit the two countries.“We are following developments concerning Sweden and Finland, but we are not of a favorable opinion,” Erdogan told reporters.The Turkish leader explained his opposition by citing Sweden and other Scandinavian countries’ alleged support for Kurdish militants and others whom Turkey considers to be terrorists. The accession procedure could be done in “a couple of weeks,” several NATO officials have said, although it could take around six months for member countries to ratify the accession protocol.Meanwhile, a report by the Swedish government on the changed security environment facing the Nordic country after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine says Moscow would react negatively to Sweden joining NATO and launch several counter-measures.The Swedish government’s security policy analysis, which will be used as a basis for Andersson’s Cabinet to decide whether to seek membership in the Western military alliance, was presented to Swedish lawmakers Friday.The report did not include a recommendation on whether or not Sweden should try to join NATO.