Sweden’s foreign minister told Swedish Radio on Saturday that the country’s new government will “distance itself” from the Kurdish YPG militia
The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet today Tuesday in Ankara with the Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christerson for talks, as the latter wishes to proceed with his country’s accession to NATO, which runs afoul of Turkey’s reservations, which declares that it wants to see concrete steps from Stockholm…
Along with Finland, Sweden applied to join NATO in May after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Turkey opposes this prospect, accusing the two countries of providing protection to fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara describes as terrorists.
The three countries signed at the end of June during the NATO summit in Madrid a memorandum with which Ankara lifted its veto and which forces Finland and Sweden to respond to its concerns.
Erdogan is due to receive Christerson at the presidential palace this afternoon, with the two leaders’ press conference scheduled for 17:30 Greek time.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Byström told Swedish Radio on Saturday that the country’s new government “will go far” by the Kurdish YPG militia, in an attempt to win Turkey’s support for its NATO membership.
Turkey considers the YPG an extension of the PKK. However, Sweden along with the US and other NATO countries supported the Kurdish militia in their fight against the Islamic State.
In an article published yesterday in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, Erdogan’s communications director, Fahrettin Altun, said that Christerson’s visit “is a historic opportunity for Sweden’s request to join NATO.”
“We are cautiously optimistic that the Swedish government will take concrete stepsabout our concerns regarding terrorism,” Altun explained.
In a letter sent to Ankara last month, Stockholm said it would take “concrete action” to respond to Turkey’s concerns, saying it would step up counter-terrorism efforts against Kurdish militants.
Ankara considers that Stockholm is “taking more steps” compared to Helsinki in addressing its “fears of terrorism”.
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