Finland–Turkey relations are foreign relations between

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Finland has an embassy in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

and an honorary consulate general in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. Turkey has an embassy in Helsinki. Both countries are full members of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE),

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermath ...

, and the

Union for the Mediterranean The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM; , ''Al-Ittiḥād min ajl al-Mutawasseṭ'') is an intergovernmental organization of 43 member states from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: the 27 Member state of the European Union, EU member states (i ...

. Finland is an EU

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

and Turkey is an EU

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

. Finland supports Turkey's accession to the EU. Turkey did not support Finland's accession to NATO until March 2023, but accepted its participation.

History

The

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

recognized the independence of Finland on February 21, 1918. Diplomatic relations between them were established on September 12, 1926. Relations between the two countries were described as being friendly though due to geographical separation, co-operation was limited. The first ambassador to Turkey was established in 1931 and an embassy in 1940. Finnish President at the time,

Urho Kekkonen Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as Prime Minister ...

, made a state visit to Turkey in 1971, being the first Nordic head of state to visit Turkey in 250 years. Finnish tourism to Turkey increased in the 1980s, when destinations were established first to Marmara region and later to

Alanya Alanya (; ), formerly Alaiye, is a beach resort town, resort city, a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Antalya Province, Turkey. It is on the southern coast of Turkey, in the country's Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean R ...

and

Side Side or Sides may refer to: Geometry * Edge (geometry) of a polygon (two-dimensional shape) * Face (geometry) of a polyhedron (three-dimensional shape) Places * Side, Turkey, a city in Turkey * Side (Ainis), a town of Ainis, ancient Thessaly, ...

. Finland was among the first countries to support Turkey's accession to the EU. In 2008, the front door of the Turkish embassy in Helsinki was set on fire. The day prior to that, a Kurdish demonstration was staged by the embassy. Four young men of Turkish-Kurdish background were brought into custody. The Police stated it was politically motivated. Finland stopped selling weapons to Turkey in 2019 due to Turkey's military operation in Syria. In 2020, a Finnish citizen was arrested in Turkey, being suspected of having links to

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

. Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs reported that it was aware of the arrest but refused to comment on it. In January 2023, Finland lifted its embargo on weapons exports to Turkey.

Osman Kavala dispute

In October 2021, in the wake of the appeal for the release of Turkish activist

Osman Kavala Mehmet Osman Kavala (born 2 October 1957) is a Turkish economist, businessman, philanthropist, and political activist. Kavala is the founder and chair of the board of Anadolu Kültür, an Istanbul-based nonprofit arts and culture organization. In ...

signed by 10 western countries, Turkish president

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

ordered his foreign minister to declare the Finnish ambassador ''

persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (PNG) is a foreign diplomat that is asked by the host country to be recalled to their home country. If the person is not recalled as requested, the host state may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the diplo ...

'', alongside the other 9 ambassadors. Following a statement by the ambassadors, reiterating their compliance with Article 41 of the

Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 is an international treaty that defines a framework for diplomatic relations between independent countries. Its aim is to facilitate "the development of friendly relations" among government ...

regarding the diplomatic duty not to interfere in host states’ internal affairs, President Erdoğan decided to not expel the ambassadors. In October 2021, Finnish Prime Minister

Sanna Marin Sanna Mirella Marin (; born 16 November 1985) is a Finnish former politician who served as prime minister of Finland from 2019 to 2023 and as the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) from 2020 to 2023. She was a Member of Pa ...

reacted sharply to Turkish President

, who declared his country's ambassador deported. And Marin also asked Erdoğan to implement the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

decisions and to respect the ECHR judgments.

Accession of Finland to NATO

In 2022, Turkey opposed Finland joining

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

because according to Turkey it hosts “terrorist organisations” which act against Turkey (including the PKK, PYD,

YPG The People's Defense Units (YPG), also called People's Protection Units, is a libertarian socialist US-backed Kurdish militant group in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG mostly consists of K ...

and

Gulen movement Gulen or Gülen may refer to: People * Fethullah Gülen (1941—2024), Turkish preacher, author, and Islamic opinion leader * Levent Gülen (born 1994), Turkish-Swiss footballer * Nur Mustafa Gülen (born 1960), Turkish footballer and coach Pla ...

). The Gülen movement is on the list of terrorist organizations in Turkey, but is not on the list of terrorist organizations in Finland and the PKK is on the list of terrorist organizations in both Turkey and Finland. In May 2022, Turkey quickly blocked the applications for NATO membership of Finland's from proceeding through an accelerated process. In May 2022, Turkey vetoed Finland's NATO membership. Turkey has demanded Finland and Sweden to extradite alleged terrorists linked to the Gülen movement and the Kurdish militant group PKK. By June 2022 Finland had received 10 extradition requests, of which two were handed to the Turkish authorities. There are around 16,000 Kurds in Finland, some of them being from

. On 21 May 2022, Finnish President

Sauli Niinistö Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (, born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician who served as the 12th president of Finland from 2012 to 2024. A lawyer by education, Niinistö was Chairman of the National Coalition Party (NCP) from 1994 to 2001, Mini ...

, after a telephone conversation with Turkish President

, announced that they were ready for dialogue with Turkey regarding Finland's membership in NATO and that they always condemned

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

. Turkey asked Finland and Sweden not to support the Gülen movement and the PKK. Turkey asked Finland to stop and end the

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

demonstrations. Turkey asked Finland and Sweden not to support terrorism. Turkey asked Finland and Sweden to address Turkey's security concerns. In September 2022, Turkey requested the extradition of 6 Turkish citizens from Finland. However, Finland did not respond positively and refused. Turkey demanded that Finland end its support to the Gülen movement and the PKK. In December 2022, Finnish Defense Minister

Antti Kaikkonen Antti Samuli Kaikkonen (born 14 February 1974 in Turku, Finland) is a Finnish politician who has served as chair of the Centre Party since June 2024. He has been a member of the Finnish Parliament from Uusimaa since 2003. He served as Minister ...

, in a statement after his meeting with his Turkish counterpart

Hulusi Akar Hulusi Akar (born 12 March 1952) is a retired four-star Turkish Armed Forces general who served as the Minister of National Defense from 2018 to 2023. He previously served as the 29th chief of the Turkish General Staff. Akar also served as a bri ...

, announced that Finland was ready to address Turkey's security concerns and that they always condemned terrorism. In January 2023, President of the Turkish Grand National Assembly

Mustafa Şentop Mustafa Şentop (born 6 August 1968) is a Turkish people, Turkish politician from the Justice and Development Party (Turkey), Justice and Development Party (AKP) who is currently a Member of Parliament#Turkey, Member of Parliament and has been i ...

cancelled the Finnish Parliament Speaker

Matti Vanhanen Matti Taneli Vanhanen (; born 4 November 1955) is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2003 to 2010. He was also Chairman of the Centre Party (Finland), Centre Party in 2006. In his earlier career, he was a journali ...

's visit to Turkey. After Turkey's parliament approved Finland's application on 30 March 2023, Finland was set to become the 31st member of NATO.Aaron Meht
(30 Mar 2023) Welcome to NATO: Finland clears Turkish hurdle, will join military alliance in coming weeks
/ref> On 1 April 2023, Turkish President

signed and approved the proposal containing Finland's accession protocol.

Economic relations

Turkey is an important trading partner for Finland. Trade between the two countries totaled $1.3 billion in 2018. Turkey is among the most popular tourist destinations for Finns, with 230,000 Finns travelling to Turkey in 2015.

Diaspora

As of 2023, there were 13,399 people in Finland of Turkish background, of which 10,555 were born in Turkey and 2,844 in Finland. Around 2,000 Finns live in the

region alone.

European Union

Finland joined the EU in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. Turkey is still a candidate country for the EU, and membership negotiations have been effectively frozen since 2016. Finland fully supports Turkey's EU membership process, as it has effectively frozen membership negotiations.

NATO

Turkey joined

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

. Finland joined

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

State visits

Resident diplomatic missions

* Finland has an embassy in

. * Turkey has an embassy in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. File:Türkiye embassy in Helsinki.jpg, Embassy of Turkey in Helsinki

References

External links

Embassy of Turkey in Helsinki (in Turkish and English)

Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs about political, economical and commercial relations with Finland

Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland about relations with Turkey

Embassy of Finland in Ankara
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finland-Turkey relations

Bilateral relations of Turkey