[1/2] Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks during the annual Society and Defence Conference in Salen, Sweden, January 8, 2023. TT News Agency/Henrik Montgomery via REUTERS
STOCKHOLM, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Sweden is confident that Turkey will approve its application to join the NATO military alliance, but will not meet all the conditions Ankara has set for its support, Sweden's prime minister said on Sunday.
"Turkey both confirms that we have done what we said we would do, but they also say that they want things that we cannot or do not want to give them," Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a defence think-tank conference in Sweden.
Finland and Sweden signed a three-way agreement with Turkey in 2022 aimed at overcoming Ankara's objections to their membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
They applied in May to join NATO in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but Turkey objected and accused the countries of harbouring militants, including from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party
At a news conference later on Sunday, Kristersson said the demands that Sweden could not or did not want to fulfil were outside the scope of the three-way memorandum.
"From time to time, Turkey mentions individuals that they want to see extradited from Sweden. To that I have said that those issues are handled within Swedish law," he said.
Ankara expressed disappointment with a decision late last year from Sweden's top court to stop a request to extradite a journalist with alleged links to Islamic scholar Fetullah Gulen, blamed by Turkey for an attempted coup.
Reporting by Johan Ahlander and Simon Johnson; editing by Barbara Lewis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Dave37 on January 8th, 2023 at 18:18 UTC »
It was obvious that it would come to this from the get go. Now Sweden is in a situation where it has military guarantees from all the big players but no responsibility to help NATO if any of its member states get attacked.
Oh well...
oakstave on January 8th, 2023 at 16:33 UTC »
They want Sweden to turn over journalists who pissed them off. Not going to happen.
Styrbj0rn on January 8th, 2023 at 14:54 UTC »
As a Swede here i'm gonna chime in on this. I think the general consensus among most people i have talked to is that they are for joining NATO but not at any cost. Which i agree with. We wanted to join NATO to protect our democracy and sovereignty, not to sacrifice it. And if we would to join i do think we would do our part aswell. But Sweden shouldn't be in the business of trading overlords, which i feel is what we (in a sense) might be doing by trading a potential overlord in Putin for Erdogan. Although i will admit that all sounds a bit exaggerated and i don't think it will come to that, but the feeling is there.
Here's the thing, i understand that NATO is a defence pact and therefore won't work if everyone isn't onboard. And i do understand that Turkey could have some valid concerns which i feel we should and mostly have addressed. But i don't trust Erdogan and his governments agenda behind their "security concerns". I don't trust them with deciding who is and is not a terrorist. And the fact that they don't seem to understand our concept of an independent judiciary is pretty telling to me.
Edit: Holy shitnuggets fellas! I really wasn't counting on my comment blowing up like this as it's never happened before. I'm trying to answer everyone but it's a bit overwhelming, just know that i do read every comment even if i don't respond.
To clarify some things: When i wrote "overlords" i really didn't mean it in an absolute sense, it was more of an exaggeration to highlight the feeling of sacrificing values and democracy rather than actually thinking we would be subjugated. And even if we don't end up joining NATO i am not as concerned anymore about our ability to defend ourselves seeing as how Russia is faring in Ukraine.
I also want to thank you guys for your huge support for us and Finland, it feels good to be welcomed by the vast majority. A lot of you mentioned that you would rather want Sweden and Finland to join and for Turkey to get kicked out. While i appreciate the sentiment i don't want us to join NATO on those terms, it wouldn't be any more dignified than some of the demands that has been imposed on us. Either we're joining in an appropriate way or not at all, just my 2c.