Finland–Turkey relations

Finnish–Turkish relations
Diplomatic mission
Embassy of Finland, Ankara	Embassy of Turkey, Helsinki

Finland–Turkey relations are foreign relations between Finland and Turkey. Finland has an embassy in Ankara and an honorary consulate general in Istanbul and other honorary consulates in Adana, Alanya, Antalya, Belek, Bodrum, Izmir, and Kayseri. Turkey has an embassy in Helsinki.

History[]

The Ottoman Empire 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, 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 and Side. Finland was among the first countries to support Turkey's accession to the EU.^[1]

In 2008, 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.^[2]

In 2020, a Finnish citizen was arrested in Turkey, being suspected of having links to ISIS. Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs reported that it was aware of the arrest but refused to comment on it.^[3]

In October 2021, in the wake of the appeal for the release of Turkish activist Osman Kavala signed by 10 western countries, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ordered his foreign minister to declare the Finnish ambassador persona non grata, alongside the other 9 ambassadors.^[4] However, the ambassadors did not receive any formal notice to leave the country and Erdoğan eventually stepped back.^[5]

In 2022, Turkey opposed Finland joining NATO because according to Turkey it hosts “terrorist organisations” which act against Turkey (including the PKK, PYD, YPG and Gulen movement).^[6] 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 Turkey.^[7]

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.^[8] As of 2021, there were 11,392 people in Finland of Turkish background, of which 8,841 were born in Turkey and 2,551 in Finland.^[9] Around 2,000 Finns live in the Alanya region alone.^[10]

State visits[]

Guest	Host	Place of visit	Date of visit
President Abdullah Gül	President Tarja Halonen	Helsinki, Finland	7–9 October 2008
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen	Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	Istanbul, Turkey	6 October 2009
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi	Helsinki, Finland	19–20 October 2010
President Tarja Halonen	President Abdullah Gül	Ankara, and Şanlıurfa, Turkey	29–30 March 2011
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen	Helsinki, Finland	5–6 November 2013
President Sauli Niinistö	President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	Ankara, and Istanbul, Turkey	12–15 October 2015
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu	Prime Minister Juha Sipilä	Helsinki, Finland	6 April 2016

References[]

^ "Kahdenväliset suhteet" (in Finnish). Finnish embassy in Ankara. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
^ "Turkish Embassy in Helsinki Defaced". yle news. YLE. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
^ "Finnish citizen arrested in Turkey, suspected of involvement in terror group Isis". yle news. YLE. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
^ "Turkey to declare 10 ambassadors 'persona non grata'". dw.com. 23 October 2021.
^ Gall, Carlota (2021-10-25). "Turkish President Steps Back From Expulsions of 10 Western Diplomats". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-10-25.
^ Toksabay, Ece; Lehto, Essi (13 May 2022). "Erdogan says Turkey not supportive of Finland, Sweden joining NATO". Reuters.
^ https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-12463469
^ https://pxweb2.stat.fi/PxWeb/pxweb/en/StatFin/StatFin__smat/statfin_smat_pxt_13gp.px/
^ "Origin and background country by language, age (1-year) and sex, 1990-2021". Statistics Finland. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
^ "Ollilat asuvat upeasti Alanyassa: Maksoi vähemmän kuin yksiö Kalliossa" (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. Retrieved 29 October 2022.

External links[]

This article about bilateral relations is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

[1] "Kahdenväliset suhteet" (in Finnish). Finnish embassy in Ankara. Retrieved 29 October 2022.

[2] "Turkish Embassy in Helsinki Defaced". yle news. YLE. Retrieved 29 October 2022.

[3] "Finnish citizen arrested in Turkey, suspected of involvement in terror group Isis". yle news. YLE. Retrieved 29 October 2022.

[4] "Turkey to declare 10 ambassadors 'persona non grata'". dw.com. 23 October 2021.

[5] Gall, Carlota (2021-10-25). "Turkish President Steps Back From Expulsions of 10 Western Diplomats". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-10-25.

[6] Toksabay, Ece; Lehto, Essi (13 May 2022). "Erdogan says Turkey not supportive of Finland, Sweden joining NATO". Reuters.

[7] ttps://yle.fi/uutiset/3-12463469

[8] ttps://pxweb2.stat.fi/PxWeb/pxweb/en/StatFin/StatFin__smat/statfin_smat_pxt_13gp.px/

[9] "Origin and background country by language, age (1-year) and sex, 1990-2021". Statistics Finland. Retrieved 29 October 2022.

[10] "Ollilat asuvat upeasti Alanyassa: Maksoi vähemmän kuin yksiö Kalliossa" (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. Retrieved 29 October 2022.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

show v t Foreign relations of Finland
Africa	Ethiopia Kenya Mozambique Namibia South Africa
Americas	Argentina Brazil Canada Chile Mexico Nicaragua United States Uruguay
Asia-Pacific	Australia China India Indonesia Iran Israel Kazakhstan Malaysia North Korea Pakistan Taiwan Turkey Vietnam
Europe	Austria Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Denmark Estonia France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Italy Kosovo Latvia Netherlands Norway Poland Russia Serbia Spain Sweden Ukraine
Multinational	NATO
Former	Soviet Union Yugoslavia
Related topics	Diplomatic missions of Finland / in Finland Ministry for Foreign Affairs Current ambassadors from Finland / Ambassadors to Finland Ambassadors from Finland (current and former)