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Turkey does not believe Sweden meets NATO membership requirements — MFA

Turkey has not yet decided if considering applications from Sweden and Finland separately was a possibility
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu
© AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin

ANKARA, February 1. /TASS/. Turkey has not yet seen Finland or Sweden take any specific steps that would allow for approving their applications for NATO membership. This primarily concerns Sweden, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday in Tallinn, where he is on a working visit. The statement was streamed on Cavusoglu’s Twitter page.

"We have not yet seen any concrete steps by these two countries, especially Sweden, that would make us certain and dispel our fears about our security. There is a protocol that three countries (Turkey, Finland and Sweden - TASS) signed [in June 2022] in Madrid. We are waiting for the obligations enshrined in it to be fulfilled," Cavusoglu said.

Turkey has not yet decided if considering applications from Sweden and Finland separately was a possibility. "Such a decision should be taken by NATO and the countries concerned," Cavusoglu said.

Ankara has no evidence that might point to the involvement of any specific country in demonstrations in Europe, in particular in Sweden, to desecrate the Koran. "We do not have any information that any particular country or group is behind this. The purpose of the provocateurs was to prevent Sweden from joining NATO. Whoever is behind this, it is a provocation," the Turkish foreign minister said.

Relations between Turkey and Sweden worsened after the burning of the Koran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on January 21. Ankara said that it would not approve Stockholm's application to join NATO until Sweden fulfilled its obligations under the memorandum signed with Turkey on combating terrorism.