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Sweden demands that Turkey ratify its accession to NATO within the week

Politiko 2023-11-29 12:42:27

Sweden demands that Turkey ratify its accession to NATO within the week

Turkey has told Sweden it expects to ratify Stockholm's admission to NATO's western military alliance within weeks, the Swedish foreign minister said.

Sweden and Finland last year sought to join NATO after Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is a member of NATO, raised concerns, arguing that the two countries protect groups that Ankara considers terrorist.

In April, Turkey supported Finland's NATO membership, but not Sweden's.

"I had a bilateral meeting with my colleague, [Turkey's] foreign minister... and he told me he expects ratification to happen within weeks," Sweden's foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, told reporters before the start of the day. of the second meeting with the foreign ministers of the alliance.

Turkey has not yet reacted to this statement.

Turkey has asked Sweden to take more steps against local members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is considered a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States.

In response, Stockholm passed an anti-terrorism law, making it illegal to join terrorist organizations. Also, Sweden has lifted restrictions on the export of arms with Turkey. Stockholm has argued that it has met the demands set out in an agreement the parties reached last year.

Apart from Turkey, Hungary has not yet ratified Sweden's accession to NATO.

The Swedish Foreign Minister said that the Hungarian authorities have confirmed to him that their country will not be the last country to ratify Sweden's admission to the alliance./ REL

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