Turkey will not give its consent to the accession of Sweden and Finland without having extracted “concrete measures” from these countries in relation to its security concerns, a senior official of the Turkish presidency warned today.
Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for the Turkish presidency and a close aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, received delegations from the two countries’ diplomats sent to Turkey to try to persuade Ankara, which opposes its accession, to Turkey.
“We have made it clear to our interlocutors that the process (of joining NATO) cannot proceed until Turkey’s security concerns are met, with concrete measures and within a set timetable,” he said at the end of the talks.
The meeting lasted five hours.
“Our interlocutors have been informed and will now forward (their report) to their governments. We will continue the talks when we receive their responses to our requests,” Kalin said.
Turkey accuses the Nordic countries, especially Sweden, which has a large community of Turkish exiles, of offering refuge to Kurdish fighters of the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which it considers a terrorist organization.
He also denounced the presence of supporters of the preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom he considers suspicious that he orchestrated the coup attempt in July 2016.
Ankara is urging the two countries to “take concrete steps” regarding “the presence of terrorist organizations at the organizational, financial and media levels,” Kalin added.
The spokesman also reiterated Ankara’s demands for the extradition of individuals it believes are linked to the PKK or the Gulen movement.
Kalin also said he was “optimistic” about the lifting of restrictions imposed by Stockholm on arms exports to Ankara, which were adopted in October 2019 following a Turkish military operation in Syria.
“We have seen a positive attitude,” he said, adding that “it is not appropriate to impose sanctions on allies.”
“We are not pressed by time. It is unacceptable for us to see certain procedures being ignored and to be in a hurry,” he added.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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