Turkey, which has been blocking Sweden’s entry into NATO for several months, is calling in particular for the extradition of journalist Bülent Kenes, refused by the Swedish Supreme Court.
Turkey, which has been blocking the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO since May, has demands that Sweden cannot and does not want to meet, the Swedish Prime Minister said on Sunday.
“Turkey also confirms that we did what we said we would do, but they also say that they want things that we cannot and do not want to give them,” Ulf Kristersson said of the process. accession of his country to the Atlantic Alliance, during a conference on defense and security in the presence of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
“We are convinced that Turkey will make a decision, we just don’t know when,” he said, before adding: “The decision is in Turkey’s camp.”
“We’re going little by little”
At the end of December, Ankara noted “positive measures” taken by Stockholm, but called for “other important steps” to remove its objections to Sweden’s entry into NATO, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut said at the time. Cavusoglu.
These statements came a few days after the Swedish Supreme Court refused to extradite journalist Bülent Kenes, requested by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Only the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments have not ratified the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO. For the Swedish Foreign Minister, the process of implementing the memorandum signed between Turkey, Sweden and Finland is “in progress”.
“I cannot give a timetable here and now but the realization of the conditions mentioned in the memorandum are in progress and we are going there little by little,” said Tobias Billström during a press briefing.