Turkey to meet with Sweden & Finland regarding the implementation of promised measures for NATO’s tender
The Turkish foreign minister announced on August 11 that Sweden, Finland and Turkey will meet on August 26 for the first meeting of the joint mechanism of the trilateral memorandum, after the Nordic nations agreed to cooperate with Ankara in its fight against terrorism.
Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters on the final day of the 13th Ambassadors’ Conference in the Turkish capital, Ankara, that Sweden and Finland have not yet fulfilled their commitments stemming from the trilateral memorandum signed at the NATO summit in Madrid in June, and that they have not has taken some solid steps against Turkey’s extradition request for terrorists.
The top diplomat reiterated Turkey’s desire to see concrete action from the two countries and characterized comments from Swedish and Finnish authorities about their pledges as “well-intentioned”. Sweden and Finland, long known for their policy of military neutrality, applied to join NATO after Russia launched its war in Ukraine in February. Turkey was the only one of the alliance’s 30 members to vote against their bid.
During a summit in Madrid in June, the three countries’ foreign ministers signed a memorandum confirming Turkey’s support for Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO bid. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had previously said Ankara would not approve the Nordic countries’ applications to join the alliance, citing, among other things, their support for Kurdish organizations that Turkey sees as security threats.
Ankara criticizes Sweden and Finland for their lax approach to terrorist groups
Ankara criticizes Sweden and Finland for their lax approach to groups it considers national security threats, such as the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its Syrian extension, as well as supporters of exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey blames. for a failed coup against Erdogan in 2016. Turkey has also demanded that the country hand over more than 70 people labeled as terrorists by its president.
Later on August 11, Sweden announced that it would extradite a man wanted for fraud to Turkey, according to T24 news site, marking the first case since Ankara’s demands in exchange for Stockholm being allowed to formally apply for NATO membership. According to the Swedish TV company SVTthe 39-year-old was sentenced to 14 years in prison in Turkey for several cases of bank card fraud and has been in custody in Sweden since last year.
Picture: AP