Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö, as well as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to explain to them Turkey’s bottom line on approving NATO membership for Sweden and Finland. Ankara Is demanding action, not excuses, in the Nordic countries cutting any support for the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) and other Kurdish terror groups.
“At a time when the alliance solidarity must be kept at the highest level, the policy of making up excuses must be abandoned and Turkey’s rightful expectations, especially regarding sanctions and support in the fight against terror, must be met,” Erdogan said.
Earlier on May 22, Erdoğan reminded Andersson that solidarity was an essential value within the alliance in terms of both the security of the member countries and of the collective security, and that it is incompatible with Sweden’s refusal to designate the PKK and its Kurdish Syrian allies YPG/PYD as terrorist organizations and to cut its political, financial and weapons support to them. Another demand Erdogan made was to lift restrictions imposed on Turkey’s defense industry following Operation Peace Spring (the 2019 Turkish incursion into Syria). He made similar comments to the Finnish leader. Their responses, if any, were not reported.