Sweden commits to NATO agreement with Türkiye: Sweden’s Prime Minister
Sweden’s new Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Monday that his country is committed to the NATO agreement with Turkey and that Stockholm will work with all its might to fulfill the agreement’s requirements.
The moderates’ leader Kristersson, who was elected prime minister with a vote of confidence from the Riksdag earlier in the day, 36 days after the September 11 election in Sweden, evaluated the ongoing NATO talks between Turkey and Sweden.
“I have been elected Prime Minister today. Thank you for trusting me. NATO membership is very important for Sweden and Finland. We are committed to the NATO agreement with Türkiye. We will do our best to fulfill the requirements of the agreement between Türkiye, Sweden and Finland,” Kristersson said.
Kristersson said that they will discuss the issue with the Turkish government and officials, “I think we will meet with the Turkish government and officials and reach a solution within the framework of the dialogue. As all NATO countries know, we applied together with Sweden and Finland for NATO membership. We did our best to make NATO membership necessary. We are doing our best. It is our wish that Sweden and Finland are accepted as partners in NATO membership.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently said Turkey would continue to oppose Sweden’s NATO membership until its demands for a tougher Swedish stance against “terrorist organizations” are met.
“As long as terrorist organizations are demonstrating in Swedish streets and terrorists are present in their parliament, our attitude to the issue will not be positive,” Erdoğan told reporters at the European Political Community meeting in Prague.
For Sweden and Finland to become NATO members, their applications must be ratified by all 30 NATO members. So far, 28 have already done so – only Türkiye and Hungary still have votes left.
Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in June, a decision spurred by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
However, Türkiye expressed objections to the membership bids and criticized the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.
A trilateral memorandum at the NATO summit in Madrid signed among the countries in June stipulates that Finland and Sweden will not provide support to the PKK’s Syrian offshoots, the YPG and PYD, or the Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ) – the group behind the defeated 2016 coup in Turkey.
Sweden and Finland agreed earlier this summer to assure Turkey of their support against security risks.
Among Turkey’s demands were the return of some suspects and that Sweden lift its arms embargo.
Sweden said it is ready to supply weapons to Turkey as part of its bid to join NATO.
Finland and Sweden also agreed to address Turkey’s ongoing deportation and extradition requests for terror suspects.