Sweden may not win Turkey’s support to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization next month as the country’s new anti-terror law is failing to crack down on Kurdish militants, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
(Bloomberg) — Sweden may not win Turkey’s support to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization next month as the country’s new anti-terror law is failing to crack down on Kurdish militants, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
“Sweden’s expectations don’t mean we’ll meet them,” Erdogan told Turkish media. “Sweden must first of all eradicate what this terrorist organization is doing. In this picture, we can’t have a positive approach.”
Erdogan’s remarks suggest his reluctance to approve Sweden’s membership to NATO will continue beyond the alliance’s upcoming summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, next month. That will extend the Nordic country’s period of limbo since looking to join the group alongside neighboring Finland following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Finland was approved to join in April. NATO allies are urging Erdogan to allow Sweden to follow suit, with all members needed to agree on newcomers. The Kurdish issue remains a sticking point, with Turkey long having fought separatist militants from the ethnic group in its own country.
Read More: Why Turkey Is Still Blocking Sweden’s NATO Accession: QuickTake
Turkey Digs In on Sweden’s NATO Bid as Allies Mount Pressure
Sweden has insisted that it’s in compliance with an agreement hammered out at NATO’s summit in Madrid a year ago, which allowed the expansion process to move forward. A new anti-terrorism law went into force in Sweden on June 1 this year, but Erdogan said it has so far failed to prevent or disperse anti-Turkey protests there.
Representatives of Turkey, Sweden and Finland are meeting Wednesday to discuss the issue.
NATO allies see Sweden’s accession clinching NATO’s control of the Baltic Sea and give the alliance the upper hand in the Arctic region — both strategic gateways for Russia — even as Moscow is bogged down in its invasion of Ukraine.
Effective Crackdown
Turkey’s president urged Swedish security forces to carry out an effective crack down on Kurdish militants to fully comply with the Madrid agreement.
“There are rights already given to security forces under laws, the constitution. Use those rights,” Erdogan said as he recalled Turkey’s battle against separatist Kurdish militants in the country’s rugged southeast. “If you are not going to use those rights then where is the NATO’s struggle against terrorism? NATO must solve this. Otherwise, we would not say ‘fine’ in Vilnius.”
Sweden argues that, by having the new terrorism law in place, it fulfilled all its obligations under the agreement, and says it has a mutual interest with Turkey in coordinating efforts against terrorism and organized crime more closely.
Bringing Sweden into the fold would simplify defense planning for the alliance. NATO would benefit not just from Sweden’s combat aircraft, naval prowess and other military assets but also be able to easily shuttle troops or equipment across Nordic territory.
Erdogan’s unrelenting stance on Sweden’s NATO bid signaled that he is not willing to balance his approach with getting US congressional support for Turkey’s purchase of American-made F-16 fighter jets.
Hungary is the other holdout, but is expected to back Sweden’s membership as soon as Turkey signals it plans to do so, as the country did with Finland’s application.
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