Sweden is convinced that Turkey will approve its application for NATO membership, but cannot satisfy all the conditions set by Ankara for its support. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said this, quoted by Reuters.
“Turkey confirms that we did what we said we would do, but it also claims it she wants things we can’t or won’t give her”he told a defense think tank conference in Sweden.
Sweden and Finland asked to join NATO in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but he faced opposition from Turkeywhich accuses them of supporting and hosting Kurdish fighters and other groups that Ankara considers terrorists.
Sweden and Finland in June signed a statement as a result of which Ankara lifted its veto on their applications to join the transatlantic security alliance.
On his side Oslo and Helsinki have pledged not to support the PKK and Kurdish armed groups YPG extension. They also pledged not to support the network of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, which Ankara says was behind the 2016 coup attempt and which Turkey designates as a terrorist organization by the acronym FETO.
Ankara has already expressed its disappointment by the decision of the Swedish Supreme Court at the end of last year suspend the extradition request of a journalist for alleged ties to the network of US Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen (FETO).
