NATO: Turkey Needs Concrete Steps From Sweden For Approval - Foreign Minister

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Thursday that Turkey’s stance has been clear since day one and there are no hidden motives to its objections.

Turkey understands the importance of Sweden and Finland joining NATO, Çavuşoğlu said.

He added; "And we welcome the moves they have made so far but it’s unrealistic to say Sweden has taken every concrete step under the tripartite NATO deal, seeing as how the activities of the terrorist organization PKK and their sympathizers still continue.

"The anti-terror laws were passed not to placate Türkiye, of course, but to fight terrorists and they need to abide by these laws. Türkiye’s concerns about the terrorists must be understood."

"Türkiye has no real problems with Sweden but they need to take concrete steps about this matter, as expressed by both us and others," the minister added.

Sweden and Finland both applied to join NATO last year, but the process has been held up by Turkey and its objections to Sweden over the harboring and toleration of terrorists.