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Turkey to block accession of Sweden, Finland to NATO if promises unfulfilled - Erdogan

Turkish President said that Sweden had pledged to extradite 73 people involved in terrorist activities to Turkey

MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he will stick to his position on the issue of Sweden and Finland acceding to NATO until all promises given to Ankara are fulfilled.

"Until the promises made to our country are kept, we will continue our principled and determined structure [on Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO membership]," Anadolu quoted the Turkish leader as saying at the parliament on Saturday.

Finland and Sweden, who applied to join NATO on May 18, were expected to receive a formal invitation to become the bloc’s members at a NATO summit in Madrid but Turkey blocked the accession process. In Madrid, the foreign ministers of Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a memorandum making it possible for Sweden and Finland to join the alliance. The document particularly provides for the two Nordic countries’ cooperation with Ankara in the fight against terrorism, namely the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its branches. Erdogan later said that Sweden had pledged to extradite 73 people involved in terrorist activities to Turkey. On September 30, Sweden lifted restrictions on exports of military equipment to Turkey introduced in 2019.

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Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan

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