Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson confirmed Thursday that next week he will visit Turkey, the country which, together with Hungary, is still blocking Stockholm’s accession to the Atlantic Alliance.
Minister Jonson confirmed that his future trip to Ankara, scheduled for the end of next week, will take place after receiving an invitation from the Turkish Defense Ministry, according to Swedish radio and television SVT.
This will be the first meeting between representatives of the two countries after last week’s tensions, when Ankara strongly protested to Stockholm over a demonstration in the Swedish capital in which a mannequin with the face of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was hung upside down.
That episode was quickly condemned by the Swedish government, which even regretted that the provocation of Ankara could have ruined the progress made in getting the Turkish Parliament to approve Sweden’s accession to the Atlantic Alliance.
Turkey has made a series of demands not only to Sweden, but also to Finland, including the extradition of people linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in order to give the ‘green light’ to its NATO membership.
However, earlier this week Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson lamented that the accession is marked by «many unknowns» despite the fact that the country is fulfilling its commitments to Turkey.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
