The Turkish government reiterated on Tuesday that «it is not possible» to ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO as long as it does not «fulfill its obligations», in view of Ankara’s obstacles to its entry into the Alliance, considering that Stockholm is not fulfilling the requirements agreed by the parties during the summit in Madrid.
«If Sweden fulfills its obligations, we will sit down and talk, but right now it is not possible for us to say ‘yes’ to Sweden’s entry into NATO,» Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
He stressed that Ankara «wants NATO to expand» and underlined that «it can understand the security concerns of Finland and Sweden (…), but it is not acceptable that Turkey’s security concerns are not met».
Cavusoglu has denounced the «intense presence» of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Sweden and Finland, «especially in Sweden». «It is not just presence, they are very active,» he said, as reported by the Turkish daily ‘Milliyet’.
«We sat down, negotiated and signed a tripartite document according to which these two countries would stop their activities. Openly and clearly. We want neither more, nor less. Finland does not have such a big problem, they have taken steps and said they will take steps, but as far as Sweden is concerned (…) the activities continue,» he explained.
In this sense, he emphasized that «there seems to be a lack of political will» and denounced the «latest provocations» of the PKK in Sweden, in reference to the recent demonstrations against the Turkish government in the European country.
«We have said from the beginning that we have a more positive view on Finland, but NATO wants to take on the process jointly. Both countries want it that way,» he said, before stressing that Ankara does not want to «avoid» the «anti-terrorist fight» by NATO.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
