Erdogan: Sweden Not Doing Enough to Join NATO

Speaking to PBS News on Monday, Erdogan confirmed that Sweden’s membership in NATO would eventually be on the agenda of the Turkish Grand National Assembly after it reconvenes in October. However, when pressed on whether the vote would take place soon, the Turkish president remarked that “for that to be happening, of course, Sweden should keep its promises.”

Erdogan stressed, in reference to Kurdish groups that Ankara considers terrorists, that those organizations “should immediately stop their demonstrations on the streets of Stockholm, and they should stop their activities because seeing this actually happening is going to be very important for the Turkish people.”

The Turkish leader also acknowledged that Sweden had seemingly amended its legislation to address the issue but added that “it’s not enough.”

Sweden and its Nordic neighbor, Finland, applied to join NATO in May 2022, following the start of the Ukraine conflict. However, while Helsinki became a member of the US-led military bloc in April, Stockholm’s bid remains in limbo due to Hungary and Turkey’s reluctance to ratify its application.

While Budapest has repeatedly blasted Sweden for its criticism of the state of democracy in the Central European country, Ankara has demanded that Stockholm do more to crack down on Kurdish groups. Another point of contention for Turkey stemmed from repeated Quran burnings in the Nordic nation.

In July, after months of back and forth, Erdogan agreed to move Sweden’s membership bid to the Turkish parliament after a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

In a statement after the summit, the three leaders underlined that Stockholm had changed its anti-terrorism laws, expanded counter-terrorism cooperation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK], and restarted arms exports to Turkey. In addition, the two countries agreed to create a “new bilateral Security Compact.” At the same time, Sweden pledged to present a “roadmap as the basis of its continued fight against terrorism in all its forms.”