![Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the 10th Term Joint Command and Staff Training, 5th Term Command and Staff Training and 12th Term Headquarters Officer Training Graduation Ceremony at National Defense University, in Istanbul, Turkiye on July 07, 2023. [Arif Hüdaverdi Yaman - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/AA-20230707-31617113-31617112-TURKISH_PRESIDENT_RECEP_TAYYIP_ERDOGAN_IN_ISTANBUL.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Turkiye expects Sweden to fulfil its promises made under last year's Madrid memorandum for its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) bid, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Friday, citing a pact signed with Turkiye, Norway and Sweden at a NATO summit.
Speaking at a military graduation ceremony in Istanbul, Erdogan criticised Sweden for embracing terrorists despite its pledges, questioning: "How can a state that does not distance itself from terrorist organisations contribute to NATO?"
"How can Turkiye trust a country where terrorists roam its streets?" Erdogan asked.
"Very few NATO allies have made the contributions to the NATO alliance that Turkiye has in the last 71 years," he added, referring to Ankara's longstanding membership since 1952. Turkiye also boasts NATO's second-largest army.
READ: Sweden court convicts man of helping Kurdish militants in boost for Sweden's NATO bid
Turkish officials have complained that Sweden allowing supporters of terrorists is among its reservations about allowing the country into the alliance.
Erdogan's remarks come on the eve of a three-day NATO summit in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, which opens on Sunday, with some members of the alliance openly pushing for Sweden to join the alliance's ranks.
Turkish leaders, however, have stressed that the security concerns about Sweden are not to be taken lightly and that its membership can only proceed if those concerns are quelled.
Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership soon after Russia launched its war in Ukraine in February 2022. Although Turkiye approved Finland's membership to NATO, it is waiting for Sweden to abide by the June 2022 trilateral memorandum to address Ankara's security concerns.
Last autumn, Sweden passed an anti-terror law hoping that Turkiye would approve Stockholm's bid to join NATO. The new law, effective since June, allows authorities to prosecute individuals supporting terrorist groups.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed on Thursday that he would convene a meeting next week with Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
Sweden has been criticised by Ankara for housing members of various terrorist groups for decades, especially the PKK and, in recent years, the Fetullah Terrorist Organisation (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup attempt in Turkiye.
In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkiye, the US and European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian branch.
READ: Sweden is considering law change to stop public Quran burning – Aftonbladet
Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.
Spotted an error on this page? Let us know
