Sweden, Finland 'positive' on lifting sanctions on Turkey, says presidential spokesperson

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The meeting of Turkey's delegation with their counterparts from Sweden and Finland, who came to Ankara to discuss Turkey's veto of their NATO membership, was held at the Presidential Complex yesterday (May 25).

Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın, who headed Turkey's delegation, said after the meeting, "We have clearly conveyed our message that there will be no progress unless Turkey'S security concerts are addressed with concrete steps and within a certain timetable."

Sweden and Finland were "positive" about lifting sanctions on Turkey in the defense industry, Kalın noted.

Deputy ministers of justice, foreign affairs and defense, as well as officials from the relevant security agencies, attend the meeting, he said.

The new security environment that emerged after the Ukraine war, the two countries' NATO membership applications and Turkey's objections to them were "comprehensively discussed," according to Kalın.

"Security concerns"

Kalın emphasized that especially Sweden is a country that has adopted neutrality for 200 years and chosen not to join alliances, whereas Turkey has been one of the most important members of NATO since 1952, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA).

Turkey has fulfilled its responsibilities by taking part in NATO missions in various places around the world in the past 70 years, he underlined.

Turkey's security concerns are about the activities of "terrorist organizations" in European countries, some NATO member countries and Sweden and Finland, said Kalın. The groups he mentioned were the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the People's Protection Units (YPG), the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and the Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

They put forward the following demands to approve NATO membership of the two Nordic countries, said Kalın:

▶ There is no difference between the PKK, PYD and YPG. Until recently, the written records of intelligence organizations of the US and many European countries would openly state that the PYD and the YPG are the Syrian branch of the PKK. For us, PKK trying to redefine itself under names such as PYD, YPD, SDG or SDF has no validity for us.

▶ FETÖ is a vicious terror organization. It carried out the July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey. Turkey will resolutely continue to fight against the existence of FETÖ in Sweden, Finland and other European countries.

▶ So far, we have made 28 extradition requests to Sweden and 12 requests to Finland. However, we have not been able to receive a positive response for any of these. When we examined the reasons for that, we saw that there were no judicial or legal reasons that would convince us.

▶ We have clearly conveyed the message that the process will not proceed unless Turkey's security concerns are met with concrete steps and within a timetable.

▶ Skipping some processes in a fait accompli situation, and in an environment where Turkey's security concerns are not addressed, the process will not progress, we have clearly stated.

The embargo

About a question whether Sweden and Finland had a tendency to lift sanctions on Turkey's defense industry, Kalın said, "We saw a positive attitude towards the lift of the sanctions on defense industry products. Of course, it is a pleasing development that we can include in the positive agenda."

"We reiterate this at every platform; we don't find it right in principle that allies impose sanctions on each other," he said, noting that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had also underscored this during the extraordinary NATO leaders' summit. (AEK/VK)