https://arab.news/gp97n
- President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he expected Turkey鈥檚 NATO allies to understand its sensitivities on security
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday Sweden should not expect Turkey to approve its NATO bid without returning 鈥渢errorists,鈥� and Swedish and Finnish delegations should not come to Turkey to convince it to back their NATO bids.
Earlier, Finland and Sweden formally applied to join the NATO alliance, a decision spurred by Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine, with the accession process expected to take only a few weeks despite Turkey鈥檚 objections.
鈥淲e have such a sensitivity as protecting our borders from attacks by terrorists organizations,鈥� Erdogan told MPs from his AK Party in parliament.
Erdogan said NATO allies had never supported Turkey in its fight against Kurdish militant groups, including the Syrian Kurdish YPG.
鈥淣ATO expansion is only meaningful for us in proportion to the respect that will be shown to our sensitivities,鈥� he said.
Ankara says Sweden and Finland harbor people it says are linked to groups it deems terrorists, namely the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group and followers of Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt.
Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber said on Monday Sweden and Finland had not granted approval for the repatriation of 33 people that Turkey requested.
鈥淪o you won鈥檛 give us back terrorists but you ask us for NATO membership? NATO is an entity for security, an organization for security. Therefore, we cannot say 鈥榶es鈥� to this security organization being deprived of security,鈥� he said.
NATO and the United States have said they were confident Turkey would not hold up membership of Finland and Sweden.