Sweden should tackle the basic issues of joining NATO Turkey

Stockholm has not adopted “concrete” so far.Action to address that concern, Ankara argues

The Swedish government should address the “fundamentally important” issue for Turkey to reach an agreement on NATO accession bids, Ankara said Saturday. The news follows a call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson.

Stockholm should “change its attitude” towards the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey and many Western countries consider to be a terrorist organization, the Cheong Wa Dae said in a statement. So far, Sweden has not taken “concrete action” to alleviate Ankara’s concerns in this regard, he added.

Other issues that prevent both sides from reaching an agreement are the arms embargo in Sweden and the restrictions imposed on Turkey’s defense industry. Ankara urged Stockholm to take a “binding commitment” on these issues and establish a “clear implementation” mechanism.

Anderson described the call with Erdogan as a “good conversation” in a Twitter post, but otherwise provided little detail in the discussion.

In another conversation on Saturday, Turkish leaders also talked about the Swedish and Finnish membership bids with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stortemberg. According to the Turkish side, Prime Minister Erdogan told Stoltenberg that concerns about the entry of Finland and Sweden persisted.

The two Scandinavian countries applied for participation in a US-led military alliance in May, expressing concern about security during Russia’s military operations in Ukraine. The move faced strong resistance from Turkey and Finland and Sweden were urged to stop detaining PKK members.

On Thursday, Stoltemberg admitted that he could not “guarantee” accession between the two countries, but said that was his goal. At the same time, he praised Turkey as an important NATO member and added that his concerns should be addressed.

((((RT.com).