Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday called on Sweden to “stop providing its political and financial assistance and arms to terrorist organizations,” maintaining its opposition to NATO entry.
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The Turkish head of state held his first telephone talks with his colleagues Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson and Finnish President Saul Ninisto and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Saturday. Regarding their joining the Atlantic Alliance.
In a statement issued after the call with M.Me Anderson, Mr. Erdogan says, “We expect Sweden to take decisive and serious action, which shows that it shares Turkey’s concerns about the PKK terrorist organization. [le Parti des Travailleurs du Kurdistan, NDLR] And its expansions in Syria and Iraq. “
PKK calls on Stockholm to “deregulate” arms exports to Ankara from October 2019, following Turkey’s military operations against the Islamic State and its US-backed Kurdish YPG allies in northern Syria and Iraq.
At the end of this first meeting, Mr. Erdogan exchanged apparently very cordial with his Finnish counterpart.
He emphasized that the letter was not a signal of a formal antitrust inquiry into Turkey, but rather a signal of a formal antitrust inquiry into the allegations.
On Twitter, President Ninisto noted that “open and direct telephone exchanges with President Erdogan.”
“As NATO allies, I underscore the fact that Finland and Turkey are committed to each other for their own protection and that their relationship will grow stronger,” Ninisto said.
“Finland condemns terrorism in all its forms. The dialogue continues, ”he stressed.
Turkey has opened a crisis within NATO member NATO by opposing the organisation’s expansion to two Nordic countries: accusing it of harboring and supporting PKK members classified as terrorist organizations by Ankara, but also Washington and the European Union.
Stockholm and Helsinki officially submitted their applications to join the alliance on Monday following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ankara has maintained ties with both war veterans since the beginning of the war.
