A Swedish delegation negotiates in Turkey the unblocking of the Swedish and Finnish candidacy to NATO

ISTANBUL, Oct. 6 (DPA/EP) –

A Swedish delegation held talks with Ankara on Wednesday to unblock the entry into NATO of Sweden and Finland, which has not yet taken place due to Turkey’s refusal to agree to it.

During a seven-hour meeting, the Turkish government has once again insisted on the extradition of suspected terrorists who would have stayed in Sweden and Finland and who would be members of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to the state channel. from TRT news and has picked up DPA.

Ankara has once again accused both countries of supporting the banned PKK, as well as the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. For this reason, it has again conditioned Turkish support to the accession of both countries to the Atlantic Alliance to the extradition of the members of these alleged terrorists.

Representatives of the Swedish and Turkish Justice Ministries have participated in the talks, according to the report accessed by the aforementioned agency. Another day of talks is scheduled for this Thursday.

After decades of neutrality, Finland and Sweden applied to join the Western alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

However, ratification requires unanimous approval and Turkey has not yet endorsed its accession, citing security concerns. Since then, diplomatic efforts have been made to respond to Ankara’s fears.