Turkey still not prepared to approve NATO expansion

Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) Sweden noted on Sunday that Turkey wants too much in exchange for approving Sweden’s accession to NATO.

Ankara is calling on Stockholm to override the decision of Sweden’s Supreme Court, which analysts predict Turkey is not likely to retract before the presidential election in June, according to DW reporting on Tuesday.

Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson pointed out “Turkey confirms that we have done what we said we would do… but they also say that they want things that we can’t and won’t give them.”

Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO after the war in Ukraine broke out, scrapping their neutrality policies adopted in the Cold War.

Turkey announced it would not approve the expansion of the alliance and accused the two EU member states of providing safe haven to people linked to terrorists including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Gülen movement, which Ankara holds responsible for the failed coup in 2016.

Sweden and Finland agreed in June to “commit to preventing the activities of the PKK” on their territories, with Stockholm lifting its embargo on the sale of arms to Turkey and distancing itself from the People’s Protection Units (YPG) over the group’s close ties to the PKK.

However, Turkey wants Sweden to extradite journalist Bülent Keneş who lives in exile in Sweden and Ankara accuses them of involvement in the failed coup.

Supreme Court ruling

The Supreme Court of Sweden ruled in December last year against Turkey’s request for extradition, pointing to a risk of persecution based on political beliefs if Keneş was extradited.

According to a poll published last week by the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, approximately 79% of Swedes support the government’s decision to support the Supreme Court’s ruling even if it stands in the way of NATO accession.

The majority of NATO members (28 of 30) have approved Sweden and Finland’s requests to join the alliance, with Hungary to give the green light in February.

According to Howard Eissenstat, former Turkey specialist for Amnesty International, “Ankara is perfectly happy to wait things out… those calculations may well change after Turkish elections.”

He concluded that “[Turkish President Recep] Erdoğan clearly benefits from taking a tough stance on Finnish and Swedish accession to NATO.”