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SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – Turkey needs to fulfill the accession of Sweden into the NATO military alliance as Stockholm is fulfilling the memorandum agreed upon with Turkey, the country’s former foreign minister said while reiterating Sweden’s will to gain membership.
“It is time for Turkey to ratify because we have really, really done a lot to fulfill the quite rightful concerns that Turkey has when it comes to combating terrorists,” former Swedish foreign minister Ann Linde said in an interview with Rudaw’s Nwenar Fatih earlier this month.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but Turkey has raised objections, accusing Sweden of supporting groups it labels as terrorists, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“We have really stepped up our work against terrorists in a way that I think is easy to show,” Linde added. “We are serious and it is time to ratify.”
On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey will begin the necessary protocols to ratify Helsinki’s membership application to NATO but refused to give a green light for Sweden, saying he expects more from the country.
The progress in the process will be directly related to the concrete steps that Sweden will take”, he said, adding that he believes his country’s stance is clear to all.
Erdogan said he has asked Stockholm to extradite 120 individuals to Turkey, which Sweden has failed to do, and it is therefore impossible “to approach Sweden positively.”
In June, Ankara, Stockholm, and Helsinki signed a memorandum in which Sweden and Finland said they would address Turkey’s concerns, including extraditing suspected PKK members. In December, Stockholm extradited a Kurdish refugee, Mahmut Tat, to Turkey for his alleged links to the PKK.
In order for a country to join NATO, all member countries of the alliance must approve their accession.
“It is time for Turkey to ratify because we have really, really done a lot to fulfill the quite rightful concerns that Turkey has when it comes to combating terrorists,” former Swedish foreign minister Ann Linde said in an interview with Rudaw’s Nwenar Fatih earlier this month.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but Turkey has raised objections, accusing Sweden of supporting groups it labels as terrorists, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“We have really stepped up our work against terrorists in a way that I think is easy to show,” Linde added. “We are serious and it is time to ratify.”
On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey will begin the necessary protocols to ratify Helsinki’s membership application to NATO but refused to give a green light for Sweden, saying he expects more from the country.
The progress in the process will be directly related to the concrete steps that Sweden will take”, he said, adding that he believes his country’s stance is clear to all.
Erdogan said he has asked Stockholm to extradite 120 individuals to Turkey, which Sweden has failed to do, and it is therefore impossible “to approach Sweden positively.”
In June, Ankara, Stockholm, and Helsinki signed a memorandum in which Sweden and Finland said they would address Turkey’s concerns, including extraditing suspected PKK members. In December, Stockholm extradited a Kurdish refugee, Mahmut Tat, to Turkey for his alleged links to the PKK.
In order for a country to join NATO, all member countries of the alliance must approve their accession.
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