Swedish premier's visit to Ankara 'historic opportunity' for NATO bid: Turkish official

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - The visit of Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to Ankara "should be seen as a historic opportunity" for the country's NATO membership, Türkiye's communications director said on Monday.

"Türkiye will evaluate Sweden's NATO membership application by looking at whether concrete steps have been taken within the framework of the memorandum signed in Madrid," Fahrettin Altun said in an interview with the Swedish daily Aftonbladet.

It was a "positive development" that the new Swedish government declared that it would abide by the signed memorandum, Altun noted, saying the new government adopted a "principled stance" by stating that it would fulfill the requirements of this framework negotiated by the previous government.

Altun also stressed Türkiye's concerns about Sweden's NATO membership application, reminding that Ankara asked Stockholm to review some of its policies that are closely related to its national security.

"First of all, we asked Sweden to remove all kinds of restrictions on the Turkish defense sector. As it is known, Türkiye produces many high-tech defense products, especially unmanned aerial vehicles, and thus plays a stabilizing role in the world.

"So, our defense sector contributes to the security of our Alliance by selling (products) to many NATO countries. It is clear that it would be inconsistent to say, the least, for the Turkish defense sector, which contributes to NATO's security, to be subject to restrictions by a state wishing to join NATO," he said.

"The second issue is the discomfort that terrorist organizations that martyred tens of thousands of innocent Turkish citizens continue their financing, propaganda, and recruiting activities in Sweden," Altun noted, adding: "We are cautiously optimistic that the Swedish government will take concrete steps regarding our terror concern that it has justified and committed to addressing through the memorandum signed in Madrid."

"Given that NATO allies have pledged to defend each other with all their might if attacked, the fight against terrorism is essential on the road to Sweden's NATO membership, he also said.

- Recent news in Swedish media 'worrying'

Altun stressed that he found the quality and level of the many comments and news he had read about Türkiye in Swedish media in recent months "worrying," and added that it is natural and healthy in democratic countries to reach important decisions through dialogue and negotiation.

"Some experts even identified (that) the elections held in Sweden acted as a referendum on NATO membership. We witness that some comments targeting both Türkiye's sensitivity in the fight against terrorism and the person of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are not intended to inform the Swedish public," he said.

According to Altun, it was surprising that those who thought that speaking Kurdish on Swedish state television would disturb Türkiye did not know that Erdogan lifted the bans faced by Kurds and opened a state television broadcasting in Kurdish.

He said that those people did not know that the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government is Türkiye's "close partner" in the fight against the PKK terror group.

"On the other hand, we can only see the NATO discussion being conducted on the basis of Islamophobia or Turkophobia as a distraction or a defense mechanism," he said, and added that his country reserves the right to those who have suffered from terrorism and Türkiye's legitimate concerns to be respected.

"We reserve the right to expect respect for those who have suffered from terrorism and for Türkiye's legitimate concerns," he said.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the EU, and US, and is responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

The trilateral agreement that Türkiye, Sweden, and Finland signed in June stipulates that Finland and Sweden will not provide support to the YPG/PYD, the PKK's Syrian offshoot, and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Türkiye. The deal also said Ankara extends full support to Finland and Sweden against threats to their national security.

All 30 standing NATO allies need to approve any expansion of the bloc.