Erdoğan demands Sweden and Finland hand over 130 ‘terrorists’ for NATO membership – POLITICO
Sweden and Finland must hand over dozens of political opponents Ankara considers terrorists in order for Turkey to accept their joint NATO application, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sunday.
“First, they have to hand over almost 130 terrorists for their offers to pass our parliament; unfortunately, they have not done this yet,” Erdoğan said at a youth event, according to the state news agency Anatolia.
Hungary and Turkey are the only two countries that have yet to ratify the agreement joint NATO application from Sweden and Finland.
Although Budapest has said so support the latest extension of the military bloc and a signatory to its beginning this year, Ankara has yet to follow suit.
Ankara has postponed supporting the accession application and applied for conditions for its approval. Sweden and Finland signed the agreement last June to ease Turkey’s concerns about its alleged support for Kurdish organizations. Last month, a Swedish court prevented extradition of an exiled Turkish journalist whom Erdoğan identified as one of the people Stockholm had to hand over to gain Turkish approval.
“Turkey sometimes names people they would like to extradite from Sweden, and it is well known that Swedish legislation… is very clear: the courts [make] those decisions cannot be changed, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said last Wednesday in response.
“I don’t think that should cloud the fact that things are going well,” he added Sweden’s NATO membership application.
Tensions between the countries increased recently week after protesters in Stockholm hanged an effigy of Erdoğan, prompting the Turkish Foreign Ministry to do so assemble Ambassador of Sweden in Ankara. Kristersson later said the photo was “sabotage” intended to hinder Sweden’s bid to join NATO.
Finland has not received a new list of people that Turkey would like to extradite, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said in a radio interview on Monday, according to the public broadcasting company. Over.
Haavisto said Ankara’s new demands are likely a reaction to the recent demonstration in Stockholm.
According to a “senior Turkish official” quoted by the Guardian last saturdayTurkey is unlikely to sign the accession of the two Nordic countries before the next Turkish parliamentary elections, which are due to be held in June, but can happen in April or May.