Find your favorites in your Independent Premium section, my profile
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had agreed to meet with Sweden’s new prime minister in Ankara to discuss the Scandinavian country’s NATO bid, describing the opportunity as an opportunity to check Stockholm’s “sincerity” in fulfilling Turkey’s conditions.
In reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sweden abandoned a long-standing military non-alignment and this year became a NATO club with neighboring Finland. Turkey, which is already a member of the military alliance, has threatened to block the process.
Erdogan’s government has imposed a series of demands on Stockholm, including the repression of Kurdish teams that Ankara accuses of terrorism and considers threats to national security.
Erdogan told a reporters’ organization on Thursday after returning from a trip to Azerbaijan that Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson had made comments “in favor of the fight against terrorism and terrorists. “The Turkish leader said he had accepted Kristersson’s request to stop in the Turkish capital.
“Of course, we will check your sincerity about this factor on this visit,” Erdogan said in comments quoted by Turkish media on Friday.
NATO operates through consensus, so Sweden and Finland want Turkey’s approval to join. The Turkish and Hungarian parliaments have yet to ratify their accession.
“Our position has changed,” he said Erdogan. No there is commitment in the fight against terrorism and we do not intend to make concessions. “
Meanwhile, Sweden’s new foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, said the government “attaches the highest priority to our NATO membership. “He convened an imaginable assembly between Kristersson and Erdogan.
“That discussion and close consultation with all three parties to this test memorandum is the way forward,” said Billstrom, who met his Finnish counterpart, Pekka Haavisto, in Helsinki on Friday.
Last month, Sweden announced it would lift the arms embargo it imposed on Turkey in 2019 following an operation by the Turkish army that opposed the Kurdish defense force YPG in Syria. The move was widely noted as a step toward securing Ankara’s approval for Sweden’s NATO membership.
“We believe it will all lead to what we hope for: ratification by and through the Turkish parliament,” Billstrom said.
Want to bookmark your favorite articles and stories to read or refer to later?Start your Independent Premium Club today.