Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Sweden and Finland must extradite or deport roughly 130 of what he described as “terrorists” before Turkey will approve the two Nordic countries’ bids to become part of NATO. The aforementioned “terrorists” are made up mostly of Kurdish militants and parts of the group that the Turkish government blames for the attempted coup in 2016. According to some Finnish government officials, this demand might be in response to a recent incident where a doll resembling the Turkish President was hung during a small protest in stockholm.
Turkey is in a geographical position that sits directly between Europe and the middle east. It’s possible that it is trying to make itself seem more powerful by making bold demands so that it is possible for Turkey to be respected/feared enough for it to become the regional hegemon of the middle east. As we talked about in class, a country’s geographical position has lots to do with how it conducts foreign policy. In this case, Turkey uses the fact that it sits on the border between Europe and the middle east to its advantage. It uses european politics such as NATO to gain the power and respect it needs to become the hegemonic power of the middle east.