Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again threatened on Thursday to block Sweden and Finland from joining NATO, less than 48 hours after the deal was reached between the three countries.
On Tuesday evening, the governments of Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a memorandum of understanding opening the two Nordic nations’ access to the Atlantic Alliance. According to this signed document, Turkey is lifting its veto on the two Nordic countries joining NATO in exchange for their cooperation in relation to the members of the Kurdish movements concerned.
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But according to AFP, President Erdogan returned to sign this memorandum on Thursday: “If they do their duty, we will submit (the memorandum) to Parliament for approval”. “If they don’t do that, there’s no question for us to send it to Parliament…” he warned. The Turkish president also refers to the “promise made by Sweden” regarding the extradition of “73 terrorists”. “They will send them back, they promised. It’s in written documents. They will keep their promise,” he added without further detail.
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We have successfully concluded the Madrid Summit, one of the most important summits in NATO history.
We endorsed the Strategic Concept, which will replace the document adopted at the 2010 Lisbon Summit, and set out the Alliance’s future prospects. pic.twitter.com/axZUx7Vz21
– Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) June 30, 2022
Stockholm responded on Thursday evening by pointing out that its extradition decisions were subject to an “independent” judiciary.
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The Turkish leader also called on Finland and Sweden to “complete their laws” regarding the presence on their soil of members of the PKK and the YPG, which operate on Turkey’s borders in northern Iraq and Syria.
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“It is important that the promises made to Turkey are kept,” he stressed.