Sweden assured Turkey on Wednesday that it is not providing “money or weapons” to “terrorist organizations” and Ankara is threatening to block Stockholm’s entry into NATO, accusing it of supporting Kurdish groups.
“We do not pay money to terrorist organizations, let alone weapons,” Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersen said at a press conference in Stockholm. Andersen expressed her desire to eliminate the “ambiguity” on this issue that arose in the Turkish accusations. On Wednesday, Swedish and Finnish delegations began talks in Ankara to try to resolve the dispute, which is preventing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from starting negotiations to annex the two Scandinavian countries.
Turkey, a member of NATO since 1952, bearing in mind that it is in a position to prevent the accession of any country, has published a list of conditions for lifting this sudden obstacle. In particular, Ankara is demanding the extradition of people on Swedish soil it calls “terrorists” linked to its sworn enemy, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Kurdish YPG in Syria.
The Turkish government also accuses Stockholm of declaring $376 million in aid to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the YPG and providing them with weapons, “especially anti-tank weapons and drones.”
Turkey is also demanding the lifting of the Swedish arms embargo imposed on it following the Turkish offensive in northern Syria in October 2019. policy of military neutrality.
