Stockholm has so far taken no ‘tangible’ action to address Ankara’s concerns, Turkey says
The Swedish government should deal with issues of “fundamental importance” for Turkey to reach an agreement on its NATO membership bid, Ankara said on Saturday. The news follows a phone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.
Stockholm should “change its attitude” towards the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey and many Western nations consider a terrorist organization, the Turkish president’s office said in a statement. So far, Stockholm has not taken any “tangible action” to alleviate Ankara’s concerns in this regard, it added.
Other issues preventing the two sides from reaching an agreement are Sweden’s arms embargo, and restrictions imposed on the Turkish defense industry. Ankara has urged Stockholm to take on “binding commitments” on these matters, setting out “clear implementation” mechanisms.
Andersson described the phone call with Erdogan as a “good conversation” in a Twitter post, but otherwise provided little detail on the discussion.
In a separate conversation on Saturday, the Turkish leader also addressed Sweden and Finland’s membership bids with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. According to the Turkish side, Erdogan informed Stoltenberg of persisting concerns regarding the admission of Finland and Sweden.
The two Nordic nations applied to join the US-led military alliance in May, voicing concerns over their security amid Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. The move encountered staunch resistance from Turkey, which demanded Finland and Sweden stop harboring PKK members.
On Thursday, Stoltenberg admitted he could not “guarantee” the two nations’ membership but said that was his goal. At the same time, he praised Turkey as an important NATO member, adding that its concerns should be addressed.
RT (Russia Today) is a state-owned news organization funded by the Russian government. The information provided by this news source is being included by the Libertarian Hub not as an endorsement of the Russian government, but rather because it is being actively censored by Big Tech, Western governments and the corporate press. During times of conflict it is imperative that we have access to both sides of the story so we can form our own opinions, even if both sides are spewing their own propaganda. The censorship of RT, despite likely being a propaganda outfit for the Russian government, reduces our ability to hear one side of the conflict. For that reason, the Libertarian Hub will temporarily republish the RSS feed from RT. Visit https://rt.com
