Sweden must extradite terrorists if wants to join NATO: Türkiye

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye on Sunday criticized Sweden along with other European states over tolerating a continuing terrorist presence, as the country's president said the extradition of terrorists is a must for the Nordic country to earn the right to enter NATO.

"We've told them (Sweden), 'Look, if you don’t extradite the terrorists you have then we can’t ratify this (NATO membership) in our parliament’,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a youth meeting, referring to Sweden and Finland’s pledges last June to take a firm stance against terrorists in order to gain NATO membership.

“First of all, they need to extradite nearly 130 terrorists in order for their bids to pass our parliament, (but) unfortunately they have yet to do this," he added, speaking in Mugla, southwestern Türkiye.

Saying that demonstrations by the terrorist PKK are often seen on the streets of the capital Stockholm, Erdogan underlined Türkiye repeatedly warned Sweden about this but "despite our warnings, unfortunately, there was no action on stopping PKK/PYD demonstrations."

"If they do not take a stand against this situation in Sweden, it could make tension in our ties with Sweden grow even more," he added, just days after a demonstration in Stockholm directly threatened Erdogan himself.

- Terrorist groups tolerated in European countries, Türkiye will respond

Stressing that the terrorist groups have a presence not only in Sweden and Finland, Erdogan said they are also seen in such countries as Germany, France, and the UK, even though the PKK is on the official European Union list of terrorist groups.

"Türkiye will determine our attitude towards them accordingly," he stressed.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG/PYD is its Syrian branch.

Under a June memorandum between Türkiye, Sweden, and Finland, the two Nordic countries pledged to take steps against terrorists in order to gain membership in the NATO alliance, which they are seeking in light of the nearby Russian war on Ukraine.

Unanimous agreement from all NATO members – including Türkiye, a member for more than 70 years – is needed for any new members to be admitted to the alliance.

Türkiye has praised some steps taken by Sweden and Finland but says the countries needs to do more, particularly in the wake of a provocative terrorist demonstration last week in Stockholm, Sweden which directly threatened the Turkish president.