Time is running out to ratify Sweden, Finland NATO bids before the election, says the Turkish presidential pox
Reuters
Turkey is running out of time to ratify NATO membership bids from Sweden and Finland before holding elections expected in May, a Turkish presidential spokesperson said on January 14.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s spokesman, İbrahim Kalın, said Turkish ratification of the countries’ bid depended on how quickly Stockholm fulfills anti-terrorism pledges made as part of a deal with Ankara, warning it could take months.
“Stockholm is fully committed to implementing the agreement signed last year in Madrid, but the country needs six more months to write new laws that would allow the legal system to implement the new definitions of terrorism,” Kalın said at a press conference in Istanbul.
Along with Finland, Sweden signed an agreement with Turkey last year aimed at overcoming Ankara’s objections to their NATO bid, which was made last May and requires approval from all 30 NATO member states. Both countries applied to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ankara has said that Sweden needed to take a clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and the organization it blames for an attempted coup in 2016.
The Turkish parliament would have to ratify Ankara’s decision on the two Nordic countries’ membership, with a vote on both expected at the same time.
Kalın said the Swedish government must send a clear message to “terrorist organizations that Sweden is no longer a safe haven for them and that they will not be able to raise money, recruit members and engage in other activities”.
“We have a question of time if they want to join NATO before the NATO summit in June,” Kalın added, referring to Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections expected in May.
“Given that Parliament will be in recess for some time before the election, you’re looking at a time frame of 2-2.5 months to do all this,” he said.