Sweden, Turkey to meet on Monday ahead of NATO summit

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will meet in Lithuania on Monday to discuss the Scandinavian country’s bid to join NATO, announced the defence alliance’s chief on Thursday. The meeting comes as a Swedish court sentenced a Kurd to more than four years in prison over terror-related charges.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in a briefing at the alliance’s headquarters that he had “just finished chairing a productive meeting” to discuss Stockholm’s accession into NATO with delegations from Turkey, Finland and Sweden.

“On Monday, in Vilnius, I will convene a meeting with President Erdogan and Prime Minister Kristersson as the next step in this process,” he added after detailing the “progress” Stockholm has made to obtain Ankara’s green light for NATO membership.

Sweden and Finland last year reversed their decades-long tradition of military non-alignment and applied to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Unanimous approval is required by alliance members and Turkey has used this as leverage to pressure the Nordic countries to counter Kurdish groups it considers “terrorists” in exchange for Ankara’s yes on the accession.

In April, Turkey ratified Finland’s bid but continues to block Sweden’s, claiming that Stockholm has failed to address Ankara’s “terror” concerns.

Following Thursday’s meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters that his country would review the progress Sweden has made before making a final decision.

NATO members, especially the US, are pushing Turkey to grant the green light to Sweden before the alliance’s annual two-day summit takes place in Lithuania on July 11.

Kristersson on Wednesday visited US President Joe Biden, with both leaders discussing the Nordic country’s NATO bid.

“Sweden has amended its constitution and introduced new anti-terrorism legislation [and] removed restrictions on arms exports to Turkey and stepped up counterr-terorrism operation, including against PKK,” said the NATO chief on Thursday, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - an armed group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey.

Turkey and its Western allies consider the PKK a terrorist organisation.

A Swedish court on Thursday sentenced a Kurd from Turkey to four and a half years for “attempted terrorist financing” for the PKK, reported AFP. The court also decided to deport the man, who was arrested in January, to Turkey upon his release.

"The attempted extortion took place within the framework of an extensive fundraising programme conducted by the PKK in Europe, including through extortion," Judge Mans Wigen was quoted by the French agency.

The Kurdish man is going to appeal the ruling, according to his lawyer.

In June last year, Ankara, Stockholm, and Helsinki signed a memorandum in which Sweden and Finland said they would address Turkey’s concerns, including extraditing suspected PKK members. In December, Stockholm extradited a Kurdish refugee, Mahmut Tat, to Turkey for his alleged links to the PKK.

“In a meeting, we all agreed that we have made good progress. We all agreed that the full membership of Sweden is in the security interest of all allies, and we all want to complete this process as soon as possible… Any further delay in Sweden’s membership would be welcomed by the PKK and President Putin,” claimed Stoltenberg during his briefing, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Erdogan said on Monday that his country will not back down from its demands of Sweden in return for giving Stockholm’s NATO bid a green light, days after a Quran burning incident in the Swedish capital drew global condemnation.

“The sooner our counterparts accept this fact, the healthier the process will be,” he added.

Sweden, Turkey to meet on Monday ahead of NATO summit

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