Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Sunday that the Turkish government is imposing a series of demands on his country to join NATO that Sweden is unable and unwilling to meet.
«They want things that we cannot and do not want to give them and now the decision rests with the Turks,» the prime minister said during the People and Defense conference held in Stockholm and reported by the daily ‘Aftonbladet’.
The conference was also attended by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, another country that has also applied for NATO membership to protect itself from the threat of Russia and which, like Sweden, is waiting for Turkey to lift its veto.
Ankara refuses to admit these two countries into the Atlantic Alliance until they hand over all the individuals accused by Ankara of belonging to Kurdish organizations declared by the Turkish government as terrorist groups, such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Turkey is also calling for the opening of bilateral arms trade.
Ahead of the conference, the Finnish Foreign Minister assured that Finland will wait for Turkey and Sweden to settle their differences. «We are not in such a hurry to join NATO that we will not wait for Sweden to give the go-ahead,» Haavisto said in statements reported by the same media.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
