Ankara will not approve Sweden’s NATO membership bid unless it extradites terrorists wanted by Türkiye, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Friday, touching upon the Scandinavian country’s reluctance to extradite terror suspects wanted by Ankara.
Erdoğan underlined that Türkiye has not changed its stance on the issue and added that it’ll oppose Sweden’s accession until it extradited terrorists residing within its borders.
He reinforced Ankara’s uncompromising stance in the fight against terrorism and reiterated they have no intention of making any concessions
Erdoğan pointed out that although the approach of Sweden’s new prime minister Ulf Kristersson is in favor of the fight against terrorism and terrorists, Ankara will test his sincerity on this issue through the meeting that Kristersson allegedly requested, and the Turkish president accepted.
Speaking at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday, Kristersson pointed out that his government will redouble efforts to implement the trilateral memorandum signed with Türkiye, that established new platforms for cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
He stressed that counterterrorism is Sweden’s priority ahead of and will remain to be after its accession to NATO.
In a step that was widely seen as an effort to secure Ankara’s support for its NATO membership, Sweden announced last month it would lift the 2019 arms embargo it imposed on Turkey following its military operation against the Kurdish militia YPG in Syria.
Stockholm told Ankara about this in a letter dated Oct. 6m which also listed other steps taken by Sweden to show it’s fully committed to the implementation of a memorandum it signed with Türkiye, including the high-level visit that Sweden’s security and counter-terrorism police, Sapo, made to Turkey in September.
During its meetings with Turkey’s MIT intelligence agency, Sapo informed Ankara it has intensified its work against the PKK, which is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the EU, and the US.
