Ankara conveyed its request to Sweden to work on fighting “terrorist” threats before allowing the country to join NATO, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
“We perceive their security considerations and we Sweden respond to ours,” Erdogan said after meeting the Swedish prime minister at the presidential palace in Ankara on Tuesday.
The Turkish leader, who accused the Scandinavian country and neighboring Finland of hosting Kurdish insurgent teams banned in Turkey, added that he “sincerely wishes” Sweden to join the U. S. -led military alliance.
Another assembly on the NATO club’s request is scheduled for later this month, he said, specifying a date.
Sweden and Finland abandoned their long-standing army non-alignment and joined the NATO club this year after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, fearing Russian President Vladimir Putin would attack them.
But Turkey, which joined NATO in 1952, has to approve membership, requiring unanimous approval from existing alliance members.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he understood Turkey’s fight against “terrorism” and vowed to meet their demands.
Erdogan demanded that Oslo and Helsinki extradite members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting the Turkish state for decades and is a terrorist organization through Ankara and its Western allies.
Turkey accused Sweden of leniency towards the PKK and its Syrian branch, the People’s Protection Units (YPG). In June, he said he had provided Oslo and Helsinki with a list of others he sought to extradite.
The PKK is blacklisted by Ankara and most of its Western allies. But the YPG has been a key player in the US-led army alliance fighting ISIL (ISIS) in Syria.
Kristersson’s Tuesday meeting with Erdogan “very productive. “
“Sweden will respect all obligations made to Turkey in the fight against the terrorist threat,” he said.
“My government was elected just a few weeks ago with a mandate to put law and order first. And that includes fighting terrorism and terrorist organizations like the PKK in Sweden,” he added.
While Sweden has spoken out in the afterlife in favor of the YPG and its political wing, Kristersson’s government appears to be distancing itself.
Sweden’s parliament said it would vote next week on a constitutional amendment that would include “anti-terrorism” laws, a key call from Turkey.
The amendment would allow new legislation to “limit the freedom of organization of teams involved in terrorism,” parliament said in a statement, adding that the vote is scheduled for Nov. 16.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visited Ankara last week to advocate for Sweden and Finland and said his club would “send a transparent message to Russia. “
Stoltenberg noted that the two men agreed to concessions to Turkey in June, in response to their request to deport or extradite “terror suspects. “
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto told reporters on Monday that he expected the NATO club to “take positions within a moderate era. “
In August, Sweden announced that it had to extradite to Turkey a man in his thirties who was wanted for fraud. This was the first case since Turkey undermined Stockholm’s cooperation in extradition.
Turkey lifted its ban on the bid of Finland and Sweden in June after weeks of negotiations. Since then, Turkey has expressed frustration at the lack of progress.