By Janet Ekstract
ISTANBUL-On Wednesday, Sweden’s hope that Turkiye would see it’s way to approve it’s NATO bid after the fourth meeting of the permanent joint mechanism between the three countries and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg were dashed. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear that Sweden hasn’t done nearly enough to stamp out terrorism in the country. A huge sticking point for Erdogan are the rallies the PKK holds in Sweden and since the organization is viewed as a terrorist group by Turkiye as well as the U.S. – he said Sweden must do more to allay Turkish security concerns – specifically about the PKK. As Erdogan told reporters on Wednesday: “We cannot have a positive approach (to Sweden’s NATO accession) under the current circumstances. NATO cannot force us to admit Sweden without acting against terrorism. Unless you resolve this issue, we cannot merrily approve Sweden’s membership in Vilnius.”
Stoltenberg reiterated prior to this week’s meeting, that Sweden has fulfilled it’s part of the tripartite memorandum, agreed on by Turkiye, Sweden and Finland last year. Though Finland and Sweden had hopes of their bids being accepted at the same time, Finland was granted membership in April 2023 when Erdogan indicated that he was satisfied with steps Finland had taken to combat terrorism. Both the U.S. and Stoltenberg were hoping for Turkiye’s approval on Sweden’s bid prior to the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 11-12. As Erdogan added: “The NATO Summit will be held in Vilnius. Hopefully, unless something extraordinary happens, I will attend. Sweden’s expectations do not mean we will comply with these expectations. For us to comply with these expectations, first of all, Sweden must do its part.”
Erdogan met with Stoltenberg about this issue earlier in June as he responded to comments: “We told him this: If you expect us to respond to Sweden’s expectations, first of all, Sweden must erase what the terrorist group has done. While we were expressing these to Stoltenberg, at that time, unfortunately, terrorists were demonstrating in the streets again in Sweden.” The Turkish leader has called on Sweden to increase its police force presence to prevent PKK terrorists from operating in Sweden. He asked “Where is NATO’s counterterrorism leg? NATO has to deal with this first.”
Despite Erdogan!s disappointment, the NATO chief said some progress was made in Wednesday’s talks and reiterated that Sweden already handled its responsibilities. He said that Erdogan told him the meeting ended positively. Stoltenberg added that Sweden already changed its Constitution as part of a request made by Turkiye and he said “strengthened the counter-terrorism laws.” Stoltenberg lauded Sweden’s announcement on the extradition of a man linked to the PKK with known terrorist ties. He added: “This is good for the fight against terrorism, but also good for Sweden’s efforts to fight organized crime,” reiterating that the two groups are linked with the same people who commit organized crime in Sweden also responsible for terrorist activities in Turkiye.
