Underlying tensions between Turkey and its fellow North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members are Kurdish ethnic, cultural and national aspirations, one of the Middle East’s unexploded powder kegs. with Turkey’s objection to Swedish and Finnish NATO membership, the United States and Europe’s refusal to adhere to principles of the NATO charter and democratic values has come home to roost. The Kurdish issue is likely to remain a ticking time bomb under whatever deal on the NATO membership of the two Nordic states is ultimately made.

James M. Dorsey is an award-winning journalist and scholar, Adjunct Senior Fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and the author of the syndicated column and blog The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.