Türkiye to reiterate its demands from Sweden, Finland amid their NATO bids

By Baris Gundogan

ANKARA (AA) - If the Swedish government does not take steps to end the PKK terror group's actions within their countries, the negotiations are unlikely to progress for Sweden's NATO membership process, said Türkiye's presidential spokesperson on Saturday.

Earlier, the YPG/PKK-linked social media accounts shared images showing pieces of rag symbolizing the terror group and its convicted ringleader's photos projected onto the historic City Hall in Stockholm.

Türkiye's Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin, after a conference in the Turkish capital Ankara, told the press that the projection of images belonging to the terrorist organization YPG/PKK on buildings in Stockholm is one of the most striking examples of the extent that the PKK is deployed in this country and how spoiled it is.

Kalin said that as NATO is a security alliance and not an economic cooperation organization, they expect Sweden and Finland to end the existence of terror groups such as the PKK, PYD, YPG, FETO, DHKP-C, and their front organizations.

Ankara also expects complete prevention of any funds to be collected, recruitment of personnel, activities, and propaganda against Türkiye, he added.

"I would like to express once again that the process will not progress until such threats against Türkiye's security in these countries are eliminated," Kalin also said.

Kalin and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal will go to Brussels on Sunday to work on Sweden's and Finland's applications for NATO membership.