ISTANBUL: Turkiye will act to ratify Sweden\u2019s NATO membership bid in conjunction with cooperation from Stockholm in the fight against terrorism, President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted on Friday as saying.
\nSweden and Finland applied for NATO membership last year in response to Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, abandoning policies of military non-alignment that had lasted through the Cold War. Their applications must be approved by all members of the alliance.
\nHaving held up ratification of Sweden\u2019s NATO bid for more than a year, Erdogan unexpectedly agreed after the alliance\u2019s summit in Lithuania this month to forward it to Turkiye\u2019s parliament when the legislature reconvenes in October.
\n\u201cTurkish parliament\u2019s working schedule will determine the process of Sweden\u2019s NATO membership (ratification),\u201d Erdogan told reporters on a flight returning from Gulf countries and northern Cyprus, according to a readout from his office.
\n\u201cIt would be in Sweden\u2019s favor if they take concrete steps on the fight against terrorist organizations and on the extradition of terrorists.\u201d
\nAnkara accuses Stockholm of doing too little against people Turkiye sees as terrorists, mainly members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the group Ankara accuses of orchestrating a 2016 failed coup, with extradition a key sticking point.
\nSweden\u2019s top court recently blocked the extradition of two Turkish citizens that Ankara says are part of a terrorist group.
\n\u201cWe expect promises to be fulfilled,\u201d Erdogan said.
\nErdogan was referring to a deal Turkiye, Sweden and Finland struck last year in Madrid aimed at addressing Ankara\u2019s security concerns.
\nTurkiye on Thursday condemned the partial destruction of a Qur’an in front of Iraq\u2019s embassy in Stockholm, but did not comment publicly on the incident while on the plane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISTANBUL: Turkiye will act to ratify Sweden\u2019s NATO membership bid in conjunction with cooperation from Stockholm in the fight against terrorism, President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted on Friday as saying. Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership last year in response to Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, abandoning policies of military non-alignment that had lasted through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-344540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n