Türkiye wants concrete steps from Sweden, Finland for NATO

After Russia’s war in Ukraine, Sweden and Finland wanted to join NATO. But since in the Western military alliance the decisions are taken unanimously, the approval awaits Türkiye’s consent, which depends on Ankara’s demands for a joint struggle against terrorism.

In the last week, attempts to persuade Türkiye have increased visibly. The new Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, said in a letter he wrote to President Tayyip Erdoğan on October 19 that he wanted to visit Türkiye and discuss the issue. Kristersson said on October 26 that Sweden is ready to fulfil the conditions of the Tripartite Memorandum with Finland and Türkiye. The same day, in a phone call with Kristersson, Erdoğan invited the new Prime Minister to Ankara and said to him that “terrorist organizations should not take Sweden’s NATO membership hostage” according to the statement of the Directorate of Communications. Erdoğan answered Kristersson’s letter a week later.

In the meantime, a trilateral meeting was held between the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA), Mustafa Şentop, with the Speakers of the Parliaments of the two northern countries on October 24. If there were to be an agreement, the NATO membership of the countries had to be approved by the Turkish parliament. Three parliamentary delegations met in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.

Şentop: They must show concrete steps

Speaker of the Turkish parliament Şentop was in Zagreb for the International Crimean Platform Parliamentary Summit, which was established last year.

He gave the following answers to YetkinReport’s questions about the tripartite meeting.

• “We received meeting requests from both Swedish and Finnish parliamentary speakers in July and August. For some reason, we left the answer until September. We expected the talks between officials from three countries to develop in a certain direction. (A Common Mechanism held its first meeting in Helsinki on 26 August-MY) We had a tripartite meeting with them via video conference on 7 September.

• “I told them in these talks that NATO is a security organization. Türkiye has been a member of this organization for 70 years, as well as an active member with one of the two largest armies, participating in all NATO activities. It contributes to the common defense of all other members. Therefore, it is the right to expect other NATO members to contribute to their own security. You want to join this organization now, so you have to declare that you will meet Türkiye’s security concerns and show them concretely.”

“Just extradition is not enough”

• “As part of the meeting in Zagreb, Swedish Parliament Speaker Andreas Norlen and Finnish Parliament Deputy Speaker Antti Rinne requested a tripartite meeting. We talked. The issue is clear; Türkiye’s approval for their NATO membership. It was a positive meeting. We also met with the speaker of the German parliament, Baerbel Bas.

• “In addition to what we said before, I said that Türkiye has expectations for its own security from NATO members and we want to see these fulfilled concretely. Türkiye has been fighting terrorism for 40 years and we are extremely uncomfortable with the support given by some NATO members to the PKK organization. Now, we have expectations from our allies in the fight against FETÖ since July 15 2016 coup attempt.

• “What we mean by concrete steps in the fight against terrorism is not the extradition of terrorist criminals and suspects; We also demand the prevention of fundraising, extortion, terrorist organization propaganda, and recruitment activities that support terrorism there. If they want to enter a common security structure, we have the right to expect Türkiye’s security-related expectations to be met concretely.”

The difficult decision of Sweden and Finland

In the period between Kristersson’s letter to Erdoğan and Erdoğan’s invitation, Şentop had this meeting between the parliamentary delegations of the two countries. Prior to the October 19 letter of the Swedish Prime Minister, Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar had meetings with the defense ministers of Sweden and Finland, who were at the NATO Defense Ministers meeting in Brussels on 13-14 October within the framework of the Ukraine contact group. It is also noteworthy that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced his trip to Türkiye following Erdogan’s invitation to Kristersson.

During the summer months, meetings were held between the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Justice, National Defense, and intelligence agencies between Türkiye, Sweden and Finland. According to the statements of diplomatic sources, Türkiye explained that what is meant in these meetings is not the extradition of ordinary criminals and suspects, but that the convicts and suspects who are members of organizations operating against Türkiye in these countries. Parliament Speaker Şentop clearly emphasizes what Erdoğan and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu have said before, by saying “fight against PKK and FETÖ.”

PKK on one side and Russia on the other

It is also noteworthy that these talks are being held at a time when Turkish security forces damaged the PKK with point-blank strikes, not only in Türkiye but also in Syria and Iraq. The Nordic countries had stopped selling military supplies to Türkiye, opposing the Afrin operation in 2019. Now, operations are being carried out almost every day, but there are no longer bans on arms sales. Perhaps their intention was to find a way for negotiation without extradition.

Why is it difficult for Sweden and Finland to extradite certain names Türkiye wants? Because even if they extradite even a single name, the two countries have worries that the PKK, being organized widely there for years, might carry out actions that might jeopardize the security of Swedes and Finns.

On the other side of the scale are their Russia fear and their desire to get themselves under the NATO guarantee, which they have been keeping away from until now.

The first extradition of a PKK member convicted or wanted on terrorism charges may start a chain reaction that will affect not only Sweden and Finland but also the internal security of other countries which are members of both NATO and the European Union where the PKK is organized, from Germany to Belgium and the Netherlands.
Keep watching closely.