Turkey demands that Sweden take concrete measures before NATO’s approval | Russia-Ukraine war news
Ankara is demanding that Sweden and Finland hand over Kurdish rebels before lifting a veto on their membership application.
Ankara has made its request that Sweden work to counter “terrorism” threats before the country’s application to join NATO is approved, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.
“We understand their security concerns, and we want Sweden to respond to ours,” Erdogan said after meeting Sweden’s prime minister at the presidential palace in Ankara on Tuesday.
The Turkish leader, who has accused the Scandinavian nation and its neighbor Finland of harboring Kurdish rebel groups banned in Turkey, added that he “sincerely wished” Sweden to join the US-led military alliance.
Another meeting on the NATO membership bid was scheduled for later this month, he said, without giving a date.
Sweden and Finland abandoned their long-standing policy of military non-alignment and applied for NATO membership this year after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, out of fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin could target them next.
But Turkey, which joined NATO in 1952, has yet to approve their accession, which requires unanimous approval from existing alliance members.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he understood Turkey’s fight against “terrorism” and promised to respond to its requests.
Erdogan has demanded that Oslo and Helsinki extradite members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought the Turkish state for decades and is considered a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies.
Turkey, in particular, accused Sweden of leniency towards the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the People’s Protection Units (YPG). In June, it stated that it had provided Oslo and Helsinki with a list of people it wanted to extradite.
The PKK is blacklisted by Ankara and most of its Western allies. But the YPG has been a key player in the US-led military alliance fighting the ISIL (ISIS) group in Syria.
Kristersson described Tuesday’s meeting with Erdogan as “very productive”.
“Sweden will live up to all commitments made to Turkey to counter the terrorist threat,” he said.
“My government was elected just a few weeks ago with a mandate to put law and order first. And this includes fighting terrorism and terrorist organizations like the PKK in Sweden,” he added.
While Sweden previously expressed support for the YPG and its political wing, Kristersson’s government seems to distance itself.
Sweden’s parliament said it would vote next week on a constitutional amendment that would make it possible to strengthen “anti-terror” laws, a key demand from Turkey.
The amendment would allow new laws to “limit the freedom of association of groups involved in terrorism,” parliament said in a statement, adding that the vote was scheduled for November 16.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visited Ankara last week to make the case for Sweden and Finland, saying their accession would “send a clear message to Russia”.
Stoltenberg stressed that the two had agreed on concessions to Turkey in June, which included addressing its request that “terror suspects” be deported or extradited.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto told reporters on Monday that he expected joining NATO to “happen within a reasonable time.”
In August, Sweden announced that it had decided to extradite a man in his 30s wanted for fraud to Turkey. The move was the first case since Turkey demanded cooperation on extraditions from Stockholm.
Turkey lifted its veto on Finland and Sweden’s bid in June after weeks of tense negotiations. Turkey has since expressed frustration at the lack of progress.