ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey could still “freeze” Sweden and Finland’s membership in NATO unless the two countries take steps that meet Ankara’s security requirements, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday.
Last month, Turkey lifted its objection to Sweden and Finland joining the alliance, but warned it would block the process if they fail to extradite suspects linked to banned Kurdish groups or the network of an exiled cleric accused of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016.
The accession of the Scandinavian countries has yet to be approved by the parliaments of all 30 NATO members and the Turkish parliament could refuse to ratify the deal.
“I want to remind once again that if these countries do not take the necessary steps to meet our conditions, we will freeze the (accession) process,” Erdogan said in a televised address after a cabinet meeting. “Our position on this issue is very clear. The rest is up to them.”
Erdogan said Sweden in particular “didn’t project a good image”, but did not elaborate.
There was no immediate response from Sweden and Finland to Erdogan’s comments.
Turkey accuses the two countries of being too lenient with groups it sees as threats to national security. Turkey’s justice minister said earlier this month that the government has renewed requests for the extradition of terror suspects wanted by his country.
Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a joint memorandum at a NATO summit last month that would allow the alliance to go ahead with inviting the Scandinavian countries to the military alliance that aims to expand and strengthen in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
With the memorandum, Finland and Sweden agreed to deal promptly and thoroughly with Turkey’s “pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects … in accordance with the European Convention on Extradition.”
