Turkey favors approving Finland’s NATO bid before Sweden’s

By SUZAN FRASER
Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s foreign minister says his country could greenlight Finland’s membership in NATO before that of Sweden, if the military alliance and the Nordic countries agree to it. Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday defined Finland’s application as “less problematic” than that of Sweden. Turkey accuses Stockholm of failing to take concrete steps to crackdown on groups that Ankara considers to be terrorists. More recently, has been incensed by Quran-burning protests that were staged outside the Turkish embassies in Stockholm and Copenhagen by an anti-Islam activist who holds Swedish and Danish citizenship. NATO requires unanimous approval to admit new members.