Erdogan issued an ultimatum to the two countries, declaring that they must deport or extradite up to 130 “terrorists” before the Turkish parliament approves their requests to join NATO.
Continuation of the hard line for the approval of the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO is given by Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish president has issued an ultimatum to the two countries, declaring that they must deport or extradite up to 130 “terrorists” in Ankara before the Turkish parliament approves their bids to join NATO.
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the two Nordic states applied to join NATO last year. The ratification of their membership needs the unanimous approval of the 30 member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Turkey and Hungary are the only ones that have not ratified their membership.
While Budapest has said it will support the latest expansion of the military alliance and will sign it early this year, Ankara still continues to raise obstacles.
Ankara has stressed that Sweden in particular must first take a clearer stance against what Turkey considers terrorists. The Turkish government has specifically called for the deportation of several members of the PKK, other members of Sweden’s Kurdish minority and the FETO movement, led by preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of masterminding the 2016 coup attempt.
“We said, look, so if don’t hand over your terrorists to uswe cannot pass it (the approval of the NATO membership request) through the parliament anyway,” Erdogan said last night, referring to a joint press conference he gave with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson last November.
“For this to pass through parliament, first of all you have to hand over to us more than 100, about 130 of these terrorists,” Erdogan said.
Sweden and Finland signed a tripartite agreement with Turkey in June 2022 aimed at overcoming Ankara’s objections.
As part of that agreement, the two Nordic countries pledged to deal with Turkey’s “pending deportation or extradition requests for terror suspects quickly and thoroughly,” taking into account Turkish intelligence and abiding by European law.
Today, Christerson said that his country is in a “good position” to secure Turkey’s ratification of its NATO membership.
Since Saturday, however, Ankara’s retreat on the issue has become apparent, with Erdogan’s representative, İbahim Kalin, stating that Turkey is “not in a position” to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership as it stands.
The reason for Turkey’s continued intransigence on the issue was an incident last week that caused friction between Ankara and Stockholm.
A video posted on Twitter by a Kurdish organization showing an effigy of Erdogan hanging by the feet from a rope in front of Stockholm’s city hall has angered Turkey with the Swedish ambassador in Ankara being summoned by the Turkish foreign ministry.
“We want to move forward, but if these kinds of incidents continue, they will slow down the process,” Kalin clarified, saying that Stockholm needs to send “a clear message” about the attitude of PKK members on its soil.
Today, however, a Swedish prosecutor said there would be no formal investigation into the incident at Stockholm City Hall, Aftonbladet newspaper reported.
A member of the PKK has been deported from Stockholm in early December – and he was immediately imprisoned in Turkey.
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
