Finland, Sweden and Turkey held official negotiations in Ankara today. Progress on the NATO path has been hoped for in Sweden, but after the negotiations, the Swedish representative admitted that there is still a long way to go.
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan according to Sweden still has work to do before Turkey ratifies Sweden’s NATO membership.
According to Erdoğan, Sweden must prevent the demonstrations of “terrorist organizations”.
The President of Turkey commented on the NATO process on his way back from Azerbaijan. Several Turkish mediasuch as the news channel A Haber and Turkish Public Radio TRT reporting on the president’s comments.
Sweden has recently reformed its constitution and anti-terrorism legislation. The changes have been pending for a long time. At the same time, Sweden is trying to show that it takes Turkey’s demands into account in the fight against terrorism.
This is clearly not enough for President Erdoğan, even if the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg that the President of the United States Joe Biden have assured that Sweden is ready to join NATO.
Erdoğan calls for the protesters to be disciplined
According to Erdoğan, the problem cannot be solved by changing the laws, but the Swedish police should intervene in the protests.
Several demonstrations have been organized in Sweden, where, among other things, the flags of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK have been seen. According to the Turkish president, terrorists are allowed to roam the streets in Sweden.
In Turkey, the interpretation of what constitutes terrorism is significantly broader than in Finland and Sweden.
Civil service negotiators from Finland, Sweden and Turkey met in Ankara today. Turkish Broadcasting Corporation According to TRT the discussions lasted three hours.
Head of the Swedish delegation, State Secretary Oscar Stenström stated after the negotiations that the discussions have promoted the NATO process, but there is still a long way to go to the final result.
Finland was involved because it was approved at the NATO summit in Madrid memorandum of understanding contact with Turkey will also continue during membership.
President Erdoğan stated as a message to the negotiators that it is not worth expecting too much from the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, unless Sweden takes the measures demanded by Turkey.
The story was updated at 16:00, Ankara’s official negotiations have ended according to Turkish information.
The story was updated at 4:30 p.m., with comments from the Swedish representative.
Sources: TRT, A Haber, Reuters