Fahrettin Altun, head of the communications department of the Turkish presidential administration, wrote an article for a Swedish newspaper. to expressHe said Sweden could not join NATO without resolving bilateral differences.
The main allegation remains Sweden’s active support of members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party banned by the Turkish authorities. According to Altun, Turkey, one of the “target countries” of terrorism, is actively fighting against such “double standards”.
“Given this history, it is unacceptable for Turkey to watch Sweden try to join NATO without reconsidering its position. From Turkey’s point of view, it is essential for the alliance to fight these people who pretend to be refugees to the Swedish people despite their involvement in crimes against innocent people in Turkey.”
He stressed that it would be distasteful for Swedes for Ankara to provide asylum to “those responsible for the terrorist attack in Stortorget”.
“We are certainly pleased that Sweden is not threatened by such a terrorist threat, but I want to make it very clear that Sweden cannot join NATO until Turkey’s legitimate concerns are resolved. If Sweden expects NATO’s second largest army to defend itself in the event of an attack, it must accept this fact.”
Turkish authorities before blocked The start of negotiations in NATO on the accession of Finland and Sweden to the alliance.
Before that, it was known that Turkey was in favor of Sweden and Finland joining NATO. expected to be included in the program for lifting US sanctions for the supply of the latest F-35 fighters and the purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems.
Ankara also has a pending request from the US to purchase dozens of F-16 fighter jets and upgrade kits for its already existing fleet.
Ankara demands that Sweden and Finland publicly condemn the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been declared a terrorist organization, and that these countries, along with many other European Union members, lift restrictions on arms exports to Turkey.
Source: Gazeta
