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The Swedish police must increase the pressure on the PKK if Turkey is to admit Sweden into NATO, says President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the state news agency Anatolia.
Sweden should not expect approval for the NATO summit in Vilnius.
– Just because Sweden has those expectations does not mean that we will fulfill them, says Erdogan.
Erdogan has objections to what he calls “terrorists” still demonstrating on the streets of Stockholm.
– First of all, Sweden must do its part against terrorist organizations.
Under the current circumstances, it should not be expected that Turkey will approve Sweden for the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11-12, Erdogan states according to the newspapers Haber7 and TRT Haber
Act against the PKK
The president is also said to have said in a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that if Turkey is expected to ratify the application, Sweden must first act against the PKK.
– What does the judiciary do? The police’s job is to stop them.
On Wednesday, Sweden, Turkey, Finland and also representatives from NATO will hold a meeting in Ankara. There, Erdogan’s new security adviser Akif Cagatay Kilic is expected to deliver the same message as the president.
At the same time, Hungary and Turkey inform each other about the process ahead for Sweden’s NATO application. That’s what Hungary’s foreign minister says in an interview.
– We have agreed to mutually inform each other about possible future steps regarding this in both our countries, says Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto to the state news agency Anatolia.
“Pause for a while”
Szijjarto has been in contact with his new Turkish ministerial colleague Hakan Fidan. Hungary has problems with Sweden’s criticism of the country’s democracy and rule of law principles.
Szijjarto says that the Hungarian government supports Sweden’s NATO membership but that the final decision rests with the parliament.
– Such accusations give us reason to put this issue on hold for a while.
FACTS
PKK
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was founded in 1978 as a Marxist party.
The movement’s goal was a Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey as well as adjacent parts of neighboring countries.
In 1984, the PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in the struggle for independence.
The PKK is labeled a terrorist by Turkey, the EU and the US.
In 2015, around 45,000 people were estimated to have been killed during 30 years of fighting between the Turkish military and the PKK.
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