Turkey is still not paving the way for Sweden and Finland to join NATO. He hopes for more progress at the next Swedish-Finnish-Turkish meeting in Stockholm at the end of November, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday after a first meeting with new Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Ankara. Sweden wants to join NATO for its own security – it’s only right if it does everything it can to help Turkey with its security.
Kristersson said his country would fully comply with a memorandum signed at the end of June, including on the fight against terrorism. “Sweden will honor all commitments it has made to Turkey to confront the terrorist threat — both prior to its NATO membership and as a future ally,” he said at a news conference alongside Erdogan.
Only Hungary and Turkey are still missing
In response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in mid-May. Until now, the EU’s two most northerly states have been close partners in the defense alliance, but not full members who could count on NATO assistance in an attack. However, for the period of the accession process, the two countries have received security guarantees from various parties.
Overall, the two countries have received a lot of tailwind from NATO. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has repeatedly campaigned for northern expansion and 28 of the 30 members have already ratified the Swedish and Finnish proposals. Only Turkey and Hungary are still missing. In Northern Europe, Hungary is expected to complete ratification by December and should not be subject to any conditions.
Support for “terrorist organization”
With Turkey, on the other hand, it remains difficult. She is concerned about arms exports and especially about alleged Swedish and Finnish support for the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG, which see Turkey as an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK and thus a “terrorist organization”. The EU, which includes Sweden and Finland, also considers the PKK a terrorist organization, but not the YPG and its political arm, the PYD.
Kristersson stressed that Sweden regards the PKK as a terrorist organization. “Sweden understands that Turkey has been involved in a long and bloody battle against PKK terrorism,” he said. “We know that Turkey is one of the NATO allies hardest hit by terrorism.”
Such messages are not enough for Turkey. There are positive developments, but there are still many steps to be taken, Turkish parliament speaker Mustafa Sent said on Tuesday, according to state news agency Anadolu after his own meeting with Kristersson. For example, there was no progress on the extradition request.
Are there other intentions behind it?
At the end of June, the dispute appeared to have been settled with an agreement between the three countries at the NATO summit in Madrid. However, Turkey continues to complain that the agreements made at the time have not yet been fulfilled, especially by Sweden, including the extradition of more than 70 people. Observers also suspect other intentions behind the Turkish blockade, such as US concessions over fighter jet supplies. According to surveys, popular approval for Erdogan also increased after the announced NATO blockade – and elections will be held in Turkey in June 2023.
Sweden had recently taken a clear step towards Ankara, authorizing the export of war materials to the NATO member for the first time since 2019 and distancing itself from the YPG and PYD. The Swedish government also announced on Monday evening that it wanted to support a voluntary NATO contribution fund to combat terrorism with ten million Swedish kronor (about 920,000 euros). The aim of this was to strengthen NATO’s role in the international fight against terrorism, according to the Ministry of Defense in Stockholm.