Following his meeting with the Swedish Prime Minister, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership should not be ratified by Parliament before June 2023, at which time Turkey will hold its general elections. . Ankara continues to put pressure on Finland and Sweden to extradite Turkish opponents.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated this Tuesday, November 8, that the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO could wait until July 2023, after the June general elections in the country.
“There is time until July (to decide on admission) and we have elections in June; we have to be very calm before these elections,” the Turkish leader told a news conference in Ankara.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in May, in the context of the war in Ukraine. However, all members of the organization must unanimously approve the process, and Turkey raised security objections, accusing the countries of harboring Turkish terrorists, and denouncing the Nordic states’ ban on exporting weapons.
The three countries signed a memorandum in June that lifted Turkey’s veto and required Sweden and Finland to resolve their remaining concerns. In September, Sweden and Finland lifted the ban on exporting military equipment to Turkey.
On Tuesday, Erdogan met with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Ankara to discuss the accession process. After the meeting, Erdogan repeated that he hopes to see concrete measures from Sweden to fulfill “anti-terrorist obligations.”
“We sincerely hope that Sweden’s accession to NATO will be consolidated,” the Turkish leader said, adding that Sweden must “support (its) own security concerns.”
Erdogan announced the organization of a new meeting on this issue in Stockholm at the end of the month, saying he hopes for “a more positive conclusion.”
Turkish opponents as currency
Since May, the Turkish president has expressed his security concerns regarding the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered a terrorist organization by Europe and several countries, but also the Kurdish militia People’s Protection Units (YPG) that Ankara considers a branch of the PKK.
“We see terrorists with their flags marching down the street in Sweden and Finland. Our people ask us if we don’t see this. We do politics. We have elections in seven months and we must show our position to the people. Our friends will understand,” he explained. the Turkish president this Tuesday.
Kristersson promised that Sweden will “fully implement” the agreement and step up the fight against terrorism.
“Sweden considers the PKK a terrorist organization, as do the European Union and the United States. My government has been elected with a mandate to prioritize law and order. This includes dealing with terrorism and terrorist organizations such as the PKK,” he said. Kristersson.
“I want to reassure all Turks, Sweden will fulfill all obligations to Turkey in the fight against the terrorist threat,” he added.
Following the agreement between the three countries, Turkey submitted lists of specific requests for the extradition of refugees in Sweden. President Erdogan said Stockholm had promised to return “73 terrorists” to Turkey but former Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson did not comment on this promise at the time. Sweden has so far only extradited one person for “fraud”, fueling Ankara’s impatience.
In addition to suspected PKK fighters and supporters, the list includes personalities close to the Gülen movement, considered by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to be responsible for the July 15, 2016 coup attempt.
The movement is not considered a terrorist organization by either the EU or the United States.
Erdogan seeks to weaken the opposition outside its borders
In Sweden, there is a tradition of welcoming Kurds, the country now has about 100,000. With the hardening of Erdogan’s government policy, migrations to Finland have also accelerated in recent years.
Erdogan is aware of the growing influence of his opposition outside his borders and is therefore seeking the extradition of those he considers political opponents.
But although the PKK is considered a terrorist organization, extradition requests for its members are mostly rejected in Europe and the United States. The judges fear that they will not receive a fair trial in Turkey.
“The West reproaches Turkey for its undifferentiated approach to terrorism, which is used to gag its opponents,” Didier Billion, deputy director of the Institute for International and Strategic Relations told France 24.
“Ankara, for its part, considers the fight against terrorism to be a vital issue, especially against the PKK, which declared war on it almost 40 years ago and has managed to hold on despite the fierce repression of the state,” the report said. expert.
Consequently, Sweden is likely to reduce the influence of the PKK in its country, however, it is unlikely to extradite many of the names requested by Ankara. Turkey’s demands raised concerns both within Sweden’s Kurdish community and within the country’s government.
To date, 28 of the 30 NATO member states have ratified the accession of the two Nordic countries, which must be approved unanimously. Apart from Turkey, only Hungary is yet to give its final approval.
With EFE, AFP and Reuters
