“Yes” from Erdogan in a meeting with Kristerson on Sweden’s accession to NATO – He insists that the agreed

THE Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed today to accept him Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersonwho the previous day declared he was ready to go “immediately” to Turkey to receive the “green light” from Ankara for the accession of his country to NATO.

Sweden and Finland launched their bid to join NATO in May in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but face objections from Turkey, which accuses the two Nordic countries of harboring what Ankara says are militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). (PKK) and other organizations.

To date, 28 member states – out of 30 – of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have ratified the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO. Only Hungary and Turkey have not yet given their final agreement.

Erdogan stressed today that Christerson, who took office on Monday, also supported the fight against terrorism, Turkish television network NTV reported.

“He has made statements like ‘we should not harbor terrorism and terrorists,'” Erdogan said. “Of course they will have to prove their sincerity on this matter in the meeting we will have,” the Turkish president added in his comments to Turkish media on the flight back from a trip to Azerbaijan yesterday Thursday.

However, he once again warned that the Turkish parliament will not ratify the accession of the two Nordic states if the demands are not met extradition of persons requested by Ankara. “These terrorists (…) must be arrested and handed over to us,” the Turkish president said.

At the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June, Sweden, Finland and Turkey signed a memorandum that paved the way for the two Nordic countries to join NATO. But the Turkish president had immediately issued a veto threat if certain conditions were not met.

Speaking in Helsinki today after meeting with his Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto, the Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom welcomed Erdogan’s statements on holding talks.

“With the fullness of time, we believe that everything will lead to … the ratification by the Turkish parliament of the application of Finland and Sweden to join NATO,” Billstrom told reporters.

He added that the new Swedish government will continue to implement the tripartite agreement reached in Madrid to smooth the path to NATO for Sweden and Finland. “Among other things, countering terrorism will be a priority for Sweden before and after we join NATO,” he said.

In fact, in a letter dated October 6, sent by Stockholm to Ankara, which came to the knowledge of Reuters, it is stated that Sweden has taken “concrete action” to address Turkey’s concerns regarding its bid to join NATO.

The two-page letter lists 14 examples of steps Sweden has taken to show it is “fully committed to implementing” the memorandum it signed with Turkey and Finland in June.

Sweden’s security police and counter-terrorism agency, Sapo, “has stepped up its work against the PKK” and made “a high-level visit” to Turkey in September for meetings with Turkey’s MIT intelligence agency, the letter said.

Stockholm expects Hungary and Turkey to soon vote in favor of Sweden joining the NATO alliance, Billstrom said today after meeting his Finnish counterpart.

“We see the developments in Hungary as positive and we judge that there, as in Turkey, the ratification process will soon be completed when the parliament votes on these issues,” Billstrom said. “There is nothing to indicate that we are not going to get a positive response from the parliament in Budapest.”

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