Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan once again laid out conditions that Sweden must meet for Turkey to back the Nordic country’s bid for membership of the North Atlantic bloc, in a telephone conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday, emphasising the need to crackdown on pro-Kurdish demonstrations within Swedish borders.
Erdoğan argued that as long as such protests continued to be organised in Sweden, the legislative amendments recently adopted by the country as a key demand from Turkey would hold little meaning.
The conversation between the top NATO official and Turkey’s President delved into various issues, including Sweden’s NATO membership, recent developments in Russia, and Turkey’s request for F-16 fighter jets, a statement from the Turkish Presidency disclosed.
Erdoğan told Stoltenberg that any attempt to connect Turkey’s F-16 request with Sweden’s membership posed a threat to NATO as a whole.
Turkey is currently seeking modernisation kits for its fleet of ageing F-16 fighter jets through a planned agreement with the United States. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously stated that Turkey’s negotiations for new or upgraded F-16 fighter jets, and Nordic accession to NATO, were separate issues, although both held significant importance for European security.
The Turkish government last year laid down a list of prerequisite conditions for acceptance of Sweden’s NATO membership bid, including the extradition of individuals Turkey deems as terrorists from within Swedish borders. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has made assurances to comply with these demands.