Invitation to Erdogan: Summit should enable Sweden to join NATO

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He will organize a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shortly before the NATO summit next Monday, Stoltenberg said on Thursday after mediation talks at the level of foreign ministers in Brussels. It is “absolutely possible” to come to a positive decision. Further delays would only be welcomed by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK and Russian President Vladimir Putin, he said.

According to Stoltenberg, the talks with Kristersson and Erdogan will be organized in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, where the NATO summit will start on Tuesday. In the event of an agreement, the summit would not be burdened by disputes over the issue.

At the press conference, Stoltenberg also referred to a judgment handed down in Stockholm a few hours earlier. A Kurd, originally from Turkey, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison in the Swedish capital for attempted extortion, serious weapons offenses and attempted terrorism financing. The court found him guilty of attempting to force a Kurdish businessman in Stockholm at gunpoint to transfer money to the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK.

According to Judge Måns Wigén, a Swedish court has classified the PKK as a terrorist organization for the first time. However, Sweden’s NATO application had no influence on the court’s decision, he stressed.

In view of the Russian offensive war against Ukraine, Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in May 2022. Finland has been a member since early April, while Sweden still lacks approval from Turkey and Hungary. The Turkish leadership is blocking Sweden’s accession, pointing out that the Scandinavian country is not taking sufficient action against “terrorist organisations” – especially the PKK. The fact that a Quran was recently set on fire for the first time in months at a demonstration in Stockholm put an extra strain on relations with Ankara.

(SDA)

Source: Blick