According to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey is demanding concrete steps against terrorism from the Nordic country in the dispute with Sweden over NATO membership. An arms embargo against Turkey after the invasion of Syria in 2019 must also be lifted, the official Anadolu news agency quoted Erdogan today after a phone call with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.
Sweden must end its “political, financial and military support” to terrorist groups and end “defense industry embargoes” imposed after a Turkish military operation against the Syrian Kurdish militia, the Ankara statement said.
Not averse to Sweden
Andersson then told Swedish broadcaster SVT that she had emphasized that Sweden welcomed cooperation in the fight against international terrorism and clearly supported the fight against terrorism and the classification of the banned PKK party as a terrorist organization.
Erdogan refers to the Kurdish militia YPG in Syria, which Ankara regards as terrorist groups. The NATO ally, the USA, on the other hand, works closely with the YPG in Syria. After a Turkish military offensive against the YPG in 2019, Sweden, Finland and Germany, among others, restricted arms exports to Turkey. In the conversation, Erdogan also claimed again that Sweden supports followers of the Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen. The Turkish leadership blames the Gülen movement for the 2016 coup attempt against the president.
Also conversation with Niinistö
Erdogan also phoned his Finnish colleague Sauli Niinistö. He then tweeted that it was an open conversation. Finland joining NATO would strengthen the security of both partners. “Finland condemns all forms of terrorism,” stressed Niinistö. The dialogue will continue.