During a speech in Istanbul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that Turkey cannot approve Sweden's membership in NATO due to its support of terrorists. Erdogan emphasized that while Turkey has supported NATO's open-door policy and approved Finland's membership, it cannot accept countries that harbor terrorists. He called on Sweden to fulfill its commitments and address the concerns raised by Turkey.
Erdogan further expressed his intention to discuss the issues surrounding Sweden's NATO membership with his partners at the NATO summit in Vilnius. He questioned how Turkey could trust a country with terrorists operating freely and how a nation associated with terrorist organizations could contribute to NATO. He pledged to raise these concerns during the summit and seek the best solution for Turkey's security.
The discussion regarding Sweden's NATO membership began in Madrid, where Erdogan, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, then Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and NATO General-Secretary Jens Stoltenberg met before the NATO summit on June 28 the previous year. A memorandum was signed, serving as a roadmap for Stockholm and Helsinki's potential NATO accession. While Turkey's parliament approved Finland's accession protocol, it did not approve Sweden's, demanding that Stockholm fully comply with the provisions of the Madrid Memorandum on counterterrorism.
Ankara has strongly criticized Stockholm for allowing rallies by supporters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, a group banned in Turkey, as well as incidents of Quran burnings.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS