Erdogan threatens to reject NATO plan to protect Baltic States
A day before the NATO’s Leaders Summit in London, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkey will oppose NATO's plan for the defense of Baltic countries if the Alliance does not recognize as terrorists groups that Turkey deems terrorists.
Erdoğan said that he had a telephone conversation with Polish President Andrzej Duda, and he had arranged a meeting with him and Baltic leaders in London to discuss the issue.
"With pleasure, we can come together and discuss these issues there as well," he said. "But if our friends at NATO do not recognize as terrorist the organizations that we consider terrorist, we will stand against any step that will be taken there."
A Turkish security source said on Monday that Ankara was not "blackmailing" NATO with its refusal to support the plan but had a full veto in the Alliance.