Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this morning that he expects NATO allies to understand Turkey’s sensitivities about security.
In a speech to lawmakers from his ruling party, he also repeated his view that Swedish and Finnish delegations should not bother coming to Turkey to discuss the issues.
And he said Sweden should not expect Turkey to approve its Nato membership bid without returning “terrorists.”
Turkey accuses the two Nordic nations of harboring members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group it views as a terrorist organization, and followers of Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara accuses of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt.
According to the official Turkish news agency, both Finland and Sweden have rejected dozens of requests to extradite Kurdish militants who Turkey describes as terrorists.
Without the support of all Nato members, Sweden and Finland cannot join the military alliance, although US President Joe Biden said yesterday he was confident consensus could be reached.
