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Ankara says time running out to ratify Sweden, Finland NATO bids | News

The president’s spokesman said that Sweden needs to complete the requirements by May, when the Turkish elections will take place.

A spokesman for the Turkish President said that Ankara is running out of time to approve Sweden and Finland’s proposals to join NATO before general elections scheduled for May.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said on Saturday that Turkey’s approval of the countries’ bids depends on how quickly Stockholm fulfills its promises to “counter terrorism” ” was introduced as part of an agreement with Ankara, warning that it could take months.

“Stockholm is fully committed to implementing the agreement signed last year in Madrid, but the country needs another six months to write new legislation that will allow the justice system to implement new definitions of terrorism.” Kalin said at a press conference in Istanbul.

Along with Finland, Sweden signed an agreement with Turkey last year to overcome Ankara’s objections to its NATO bids, which were launched last May and require approval. of all 30 NATO member states. Both countries applied to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Turkey wants a clearer position

Ankara said Sweden needs to take a clearer stance against what it sees as “terrorists”, mainly Kurdish groups and organizations it blames for the 2016 coup plot.

Last week, Stockholm he said Sweden believes that Turkey will accept its application to join the NATO military alliance, but it cannot meet all the conditions that Ankara sets for support.

The Turkish parliament will have to approve Ankara’s decision on the membership of the two Nordic countries, with a vote expected to take place simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Turkish prosecutors have opened an investigation into an incident in Stockholm in which an effigy of President Erdogan was hung up, adding diplomatic tension to Sweden’s attempt to win Turkish support.

The Swedish prime minister told broadcaster TV4 on Friday that the move was “extremely serious” and that he considered it an act of undermining the application of NATO.

Kalin said the Swedish government needs to send a clear message to “terrorist organizations that Sweden is no longer a safe haven for them and that they will not be able to collect money, recruit members and participate in terrorist activities.” other activities”.

“We have a problem of timing if they want to join NATO before the NATO summit in June,” Kalin added, referring to Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled for next month. May.

“Given that parliament is going to take a break for a while before the election, you’re looking at a 2- to 2.5-month timeframe to do all of this,” he said.



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