Istanbul/Brussels, June 14, (dpa/GNA) – Sweden should not expect Turkey to approve its NATO accession ahead of next month’s summit, Turkey’s president said, arguing Stockholm fails to fully apply its new anti-terror laws to crack down on Kurdish militants whom Ankara considers “terrorists.”
Ankara “can not approach positively” Sweden’s NATO bid while “terrorists” are protesting on Stockholm streets, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as quoted by state news agency Anadolu on his return flight from Azerbaijan on Tuesday.
NATO leaders are to hold their annual summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 11 and 12.
Erdogan’s remarks came hours before planned talks with Swedish, Finnish and NATO officials in Ankara.
The Swedish side is to be told not to expect a change in Ankara’s stance at the Vilnius summit, Erdogan added.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Sweden and Finland applied to join the Western alliance, in a change of stance after decades of neutrality.
Finland was accepted to the alliance in April this year, but Turkey and Hungary have yet to ratify Sweden’s bid.
Turkey justifies its block on the grounds that Sweden is failing to clamp down on terrorist organizations, and in particular its refusal to extradite people viewed by Ankara as terrorists – mainly referring to banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) insurgents fighting for autonomy in Turkey’s south-east.
Sweden recently passed new anti-terrorism laws, making it illegal to participate in, finance or otherwise support a terrorist organization.
Erdogan argued the “terrorist” groups must be permanently banned in Sweden, referring to recent remarks by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that Sweden had amended its legislation to meet Turkey’s security concerns.
After the talks with Swedish, Finnish and NATO officials in Ankara, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels that he was briefed “that the meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere.”
Stoltenberg said that “some progress” was achieved in Ankara and that NATO will continue to work to make the ratification of Sweden’s membership happen “as soon as possible.”
“Of course, I’m not in a position to give you any exact timelines or guarantees,” he said, adding that it was still possible that Turkey would agree to Sweden joining the alliance in time for the summit in Vilnius.
Meanwhile, Turkey hopes the NATO summit will serve for a rapprochement with neighbouring Greece, Erdogan separately said in remarks carried by Anadolu.
Erdogan plans to meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the July summit should he be re-elected in the Greek parliamentary elections on June 25. Mitsotakis offered to have such a meeting, Erdogan said.
Last June, the Turkish president severed contacts with Mitsotakis after the latter suggested the United States should not sell arms to Turkey.
The two NATO members saw diplomatic ties improve after Greece sent help for relief efforts in Turkey’s February earthquakes.
The two neighbours, sharing both land and sea borders, are at odds over maritime rights, energy deposits and sovereignty over dozens of Greek islands in the eastern Mediterranean.
GNA