Swedish PM met Erdogan in Ankara
Ankara has conveyed its request for Sweden to work towards countering “terrorism” threats before clearing the country’s application to join NATO, 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.
The Turkish leader, who has accused the Scandinavian nation and its neighbour Finland of harbouring Kurdish rebel groups that are outlawed in Türkiye, added that he “sincerely wished” that Sweden joined the US-led military alliance.
Another meeting on the NATO membership bid was scheduled for later this month, he said, without specifying the date.
Sweden and Finland abandoned their long standing policies of military nonalignment and applied for NATO membership this year after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, fearing that Russian President Vladimir Putin might target them next.
But Türkiye, which joined NATO in 1952, has not yet endorsed their accession, which requires unanimous approval from existing alliance members.
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he understood Türkiye’s fight against “terrorism” and promised to respond to its requests.
Türkiye accused Sweden, in particular, of leniency towards the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
In June, it said it had provided Oslo and Helsinki with a list of people it wanted extradited.
