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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Turkey could restart its opposition to Finland‘s and Sweden’s NATO applications if the two aspiring allies don’t follow through on their agreement.
Turkey had stood in the way of their entrance into the alliance, but that changed on Tuesday when the three countries announced a trilateral agreement that would allow their applications to move forward. Erdogan warned on Thursday, however, that Turkey could withdraw its support if Finland and Sweden don’t follow through on their end of the deal.
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“This business will not work if we don’t pass this in our Parliament,” Erdogan said at a press conference in Madrid at the conclusion of this week’s NATO summit. “First, Sweden and Finland must fulfill their duties, and those are already in the text. … But if they don’t fulfill these, then of course there is no way we would send it to our Parliament.”
Turkish officials opposed their attempts to join the alliance previously, claiming that both countries have supported terrorists on the grounds that both countries have refused to deport Turkish nationals that Ankara has accused of loyalty to the PKK, an ethnic Kurdish militant group.
Erdogan also said that Sweden had agreed to extradite 73 “terrorists” to Turkey and to crack down on the financing and recruitment of the PKK, which is listed as a terror group by the United States and European Union, though the signed memorandum does not list people designated for extradition.
“Of course, what we understand is important from our meetings and talks,” Erdogan said. “Sweden promised to give us these 73 people with this text. They may or they may not. We will follow that through the text, and we will make our decision.”
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The Swedish government has attempted to quell concerns that this will lead to deportations without due process, with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson saying earlier this week, “I know there are some people who are worried that we’re going to start to hunt people and extradite them, and I think it’s important to say that we always follow Swedish laws and international conventions, and we never extradite Swedish citizens.”
Finland and Sweden applied to join the alliance in the midst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is currently entering its fifth month. While the Russians have not accomplished nearly any of the goals they initially sought to achieve, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions remain the same.
