By Janet Ekstract
ISTANBUL – On Friday, new Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on a visit to Finland, announced that no new concessions regarding commitments made to Türkiye in June, would be forthcoming. Kristersson reiterated that Sweden would not go beyond the counter-terrorism commitments it already made to Türkiye then. As Kristersson said: “Nothing more than that, nothing less than that either.” Both Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO in May, in light of the conflict in Ukraine with a resounding majority of NATO allies voting in favor. Türkiye and Hungary are the only two NATO allies who have yet to ratify their applications.
Turkish President Erdogan had stipulated that in order to ratify Sweden and Finland’s applications that both countries would need to get serious about “not harboring terrorists” and the Turkish leader had made it clear that he wanted to see concrete action on extraditing terrorist elements from Sweden. Meanwhile, Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin said she is committed to Sweden and Finland joining NATO simultaneously. She made the statement after Erdogan hinted in remarks that Türkiye might ratify Finland’s application prior to Sweden’s. In June, both Nordic countries agreed to take a more stringent stance on Kurdish groups that Erdogan has repeatedly said, he considers as terrorists.
In light of the Turkish government’s current stance, Kristersson announced on Friday that he’s planning to meet with Erdogan in Türkiye to discuss any outstanding issues. As Kristersson explained: “We respect that every country has to make their own decision on this. But of course, Sweden and Finland want as soon a ratification as possible.” While Finland’s PM Marin said that when she met Erdogan in Prague on October 6, he expressed that he was more pleased with Finland than Sweden on the issue, but she stressed that it’s crucial for the security of the Nordic region that both nations join the alliance at the same time. For his part, Kristersson made it clear that his country would abide by agreements it make in the tripartite agreement between Türkiye, Finland and Sweden but nothing beyond those.
