President Alexander Stubb rules out deployment of nuclear weapons in Finland

ANKARA

President Alexander Stubb ruled out the deployment of nuclear weapons in Finland.

"We are part of the alliance (NATO), and we know that the biggest nuclear power in the alliance is the United States, followed by the United Kingdom and France, and then six countries which have actually deployed nuclear weapons on their territory. But Finland is not in the business of taking nuclear weapons on its territory," Stubb told Anadolu in Ankara.

He noted that his country takes part in NATO's nuclear planning but stressed he does not think Finland will deploy nuclear weapons.

Türkiye's NATO membership, good partnership with EU 'extremely important'

Stubb said Turkish foreign policy is "multi-vectoral," and noted Türkiye has a close partnership with the EU. He also emphasized Ankara's membership in organizations such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and NATO.

"I don't think there is any country in the world that has more memberships than Türkiye has in different directions and I welcome that,” he said about Ankara's ties with international organizations. "I believe it is extremely important that Türkiye is a member of NATO and has a good partnership with the EU.

Stubb arrived Tuesday in Türkiye at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He met Turkish Parliament speaker Numan Kurtulmus.

He was received by Erdogan with an official ceremony in Ankara where they discussed ties, including regional and international issues.

'Finland supports a two-state solution'

"Finland supports a two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Stubb said when he asked if his reason for not recognizing Palestine as a state was related to Finland’s arms trade relationship with Israel.

He underlined that Finland's arms trade with Israel did not affect his country's decision on whether to recognize the state of Palestine.

"We are not pro-Israel or pro-Palestine -- we are pro-peace. For us, a two-state solution means that there needs to be a genuine political process and peace. And it needs to be based on international law. It is not a question of whether we will recognize Palestine, because we will. If you support a two-state solution, that automatically entails that the other state is recognized as well.

“It is a question of when the timing is right to support the peace process. Right now, the tensions are so high that it will not make sense. When that time comes, I simply do not know," he said.

Natural gas pipeline in Finland

Asked about any new developments about an alleged sabotage by Russia last year on the natural gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia, Stubb noted that a Chinese-flagged ship "pulled up" the gas pipeline and talks and investigations with Chinese officials were ongoing.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel