ERDOGAN THREATENS TO VETO NATO EXPANSION (DESPITE RUSSIAN "TURKROACH" MEMES)

Totally chilled and respectful image of Turkish President Recep Erdogan

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, who is usually represented as a cockcroach in Russian-created memes, is oddly doing Russia a favour by threatening to veto Finland and Sweden's application for NATO membership. 

As reported by the Independent:

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised Finland’s decision to apply for Nato membership, claiming it and neighbouring Sweden are “home to many terrorist organisations”.

The opposition from Erdogan has the potential to thwart the potential bids from the two nations, since membership of the alliance hinges on unanimous agreement from all 30 member states. Turkey is a Nato member.

“We are following the developments regarding Sweden and Finland, but we don’t hold positive views,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul, adding it was a mistake for Nato to accept Greece as a member in the past. “As Turkey, we don’t want to repeat similar mistakes. Furthermore, Scandinavian countries are guesthouses for terrorist organisations,” Erdogan said, without expanding on any details of the claim.

Basically Erdogan is just pissed that Sweden and Finland don't immediately arrest and behead all the Kurdish dissidents who now live safely in their countries after escaping from Erdogan's secret police. 

This, however, doesn't mean that Sweden and Finland joining NATO is off the table. It just means that there'll have to be a bit of backstairs horse-trading and a few extra strings pulled. 

In response to Erdogan’s statement, which appeared to come as a surprise to Finland, foreign minister Pekka Haavisto urged patience and called for a step-by-step approach in response.

“We need some patience in this type of process, it’s not happening in one day... let’s take issues step-by-step,” Haavisto told reporters.

Haavisto visited Turkey twice in recent months and Finnish president Sauli Niinisto spoke on the phone with Erdogan in early April.

After that call, Niinisto tweeted: “Turkey supports Finland’s goals.”

Like I already said, Erdogan's off-the-cuff remarks are unlikely to change much, as deep down he knows that the Russians are behind all the "Turk-roach" memes out there and there are a LOT!!! Russia has a long history of polluting the internet with crappy and indeed racist memes like these: