Why Turkey could spoil the Nato party for Sweden and Finland

Erdogan could veto expansion, but must make careful choices over Putin’s threats, says Sean O'Grady

Finnish soldiers in an exercise earlier this month (AP)

In a move that is causing almost as much joy and excitement as the Eurovision Song Contest, Finland and Sweden want to join Nato. They are, to use the securocrat euphemism, net security providers – a big bonus to Nato’s military capability, rather than a burden of commitment (not that there’s anything wrong with that – small nations have rights, too).

There is talk of fast-track applications and of Nato being open to all geographically relevant nations. The Finns and Swedes, having had to develop their own defences during years of neutrality, are bristling with advanced kit and well-drilled troops. They are already part of the British-sponsored Joint Expeditionary Force, and are participating in yet more military exercises in Estonia under the code name Hedgehog. Even outside Nato, they’d give the Russians a run for their money, just as the Ukrainians are.

Then along comes Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of Turkey and sworn member of the global authoritarian awkward club. A loyal Nato country since 1952 (it even hosted American nuclear missiles until the Cuba crisis in 1962), Turkey has become less and less reliable. President Erdogan has rained on Nato’s parade, making negative noises about the prospective Scandinavian members – particularly the way these liberal democracies have offered asylum to Kurdish groups such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), regarded by Ankara as terrorists.