Erdogan signals no progress in Sweden’s NATO bid – Diplomacy – War in Ukraine
Combined images of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.
In a telephone conversation with Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, Erdogan reiterated that “Sweden should take action on such fundamental issues as fighting terrorism,” the Turkish presidency said in a statement.
Turkey “wanted to see binding commitments on these issues along with concrete and clear measures,” he added.
Finland and Sweden discussed their stalled NATO bid with Turkey in Brussels on Monday, but Ankara shattered hopes that their dispute will be resolved before an alliance summit next week.
Turkish officials said Ankara did not see the summit as a deadline for resolving Ankara’s objections.
Andersson, who became prime minister at the end of last year, said that the conversation with Erdogan went well.
She tweeted that they had “agreed on the importance of making progress ahead of the NATO summit in Madrid next week, where I look forward to meeting with President Erdogan and other allied leaders”.
Ankara has accused Finland, and Sweden in particular, of providing a refuge for banned Kurdish militants whose decades-long uprising against the Turkish state has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Erdogan told Andersson that Sweden “should make concrete changes in its attitude” towards the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its Syrian affiliates, the presidency said.
“In this regard, no concrete measures aimed at addressing Turkey’s concerns were seen to have been taken by Sweden,” it added.
The Turkish leader also expressed expectations that Sweden would lift an arms embargo against Turkey that Stockholm imposed in 2019 due to Ankara’s military offensive in Syria.
He also said that he hoped that the restrictions on Turkey’s defense industry would be lifted, and that Sweden would extradite several people whom Ankara had accused of involvement in terrorism.
The phone call comes after Erdogan discussed the two countries’ bids with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.
Erdogan also told Stoltenberg that “Sweden and Finland should take concrete and sincere steps” against banned Kurdish militants, the presidency said.
Stoltenberg said he had a “good conversation” with “our esteemed ally” Erdogan.
“We agreed to continue the talks in Brussels and Madrid next week,” he tweeted.
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