The Turkish government said on Monday that Sweden had made “some positive progress” for Ankara in lifting the veto from the Scandinavian nation’s path to NATO, but stressed that the progress was “not in line” with the anti-terrorism law.
“They changed the anti-terrorism law, which we welcome, and they also amended the Constitution, which we also welcome (…). But, unfortunately, the law on combating terrorism is not true,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
The head of Turkish diplomacy, speaking after a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, specifically mentioned the Swedish anti-terror legislation aimed at ensuring that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara considers a terrorist organization, “raises money to finance terrorism.” “.
This is how Cavusoglu answered journalists’ questions after the donor conference for the victims of the February earthquakes in Syria and Turkey, organized by the European Commission and the Swedish presidency of the EU Council.
The move came after Ankara on Friday approved Finland’s entry into the Atlantic Alliance, although it retained its veto power against Sweden.
Ankara intends to maintain diplomatic talks between the two countries.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stressed at another press conference at the donors’ conference that Turkey’s decision did not come as a surprise and that he remains confident that his country can join NATO soon.
“We knew this could happen. Finland and Sweden wanted to join NATO together (…). It wasn’t a surprise. This was not our desire, we respect Turkey’s decision, but we hope for a quick entry.” , – he pointed out, – Kristersson.
Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership ten months ago after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, abandoning decades of non-alignment.
Turkey and Hungary are the only two members of the Atlantic Alliance (currently 30) that have yet to ratify the membership of Stockholm and Helsinki, which suggests unanimous approval.
A government spokesman explained on Friday that the Hungarian parliament would vote on Finland’s NATO membership on March 27, while Sweden’s case would be considered “later.”
Although the path of Helsinki is open and unhindered, the accession of Stockholm is met with resistance from Turkey (each state has the right to veto), which criticizes Sweden, including the fact that it does not extradite persons accused of belonging to Kurdish organizations, declared terrorist groups by the Turkish authorities . .
The situation worsened after a diplomatic incident in January when an extremist burned the Quran, Islam’s holy book, in Stockholm, halting talks for several weeks.
The NATO Secretary General said on Monday that it is important for Sweden and Finland to become member states “as soon as possible”, but the goal is not “to join at the same time”, which changes the discourse on the issue.
So far, the NATO Secretary General has called for the simultaneous ratification of the accession agreements, but in view of the demands put forward by Ankara, Jens Stoltenberg abandoned this demand and focused on advancing the Finnish accession process.
However, the official recalled that the two countries have already enjoyed special protection from NATO countries since they became candidates.