The Turkish president said he wanted to see first if the two countries would keep their promises in exchange for Ankara’s support. “The ball is now in their court”
The agreement signed with Finland and Sweden to lift Turkey’s veto on NATO membership is not the end of the matter and obliges the two Nordic countries to keep their promisessaid today the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who also stated that will not meet with the Greek Prime Minister Kyriako Mitsotaki, if the latter does not “recover”and how he is ready to reinstate the death penalty in Turkey.
Speaking to reporters on the plane on which he returned to his country after the NATO summit in Madrid, Erdogan said that the Turkish parliament no need to rush to approve Finnish and Swedish candidacies for NATO membership. Ankara must first see if the two countries will keep their promises in exchange for Ankara’s support, including extraditing the suspects requested by Turkey, the Turkish president said.
“This should be clear: these signatures do not mean that the issue is over … Without the approval of our parliament, this will not be implemented. “So there is no need to hurry,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by NTV.
“The ball is now in their court. “Sweden and Finland are not currently members of NATO.”
Asked about the extradition of suspects, Erdogan said that if the Scandinavian countries do not send these people to Turkey, “then we will do what is necessary through our institutions and units.”
Erdogan also stated, according to NTV, that it is impossible to meet with the Greek Prime Minister Kyriako Mitsotaki if the Greek leader does not “recover”.
He also said, according to the same source, that he would probably approve the reinstatement of the death penaltyif the parliament submitted a relevant bill to him.
Erdogan’s Justice Minister said at the weekend that Turkey could consider reinstating the death penalty, which it abolished in 2004, after the president had raised the issue earlier in connection with forest fires. Devlet Bahceli’s nationalist ally had backed the idea, saying the death penalty should be extended to terrorism, rape and murder.
“If necessary, this should be returned to the agenda and discussed. “We will have to see what comes out of this debate,” Erdogan was quoted as saying.
“I have said it before, if the parliament takes such a decision as a result of the work of our Ministry of Justice, I will approve this decision,” he added.
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