ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to give the green light to Sweden’s accession to NATO as Stockholm continues to push for membership.
Sweden and Finland last year reversed their decades-long tradition of military non-alignment and applied to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Unanimous approval is required by alliance members and Turkey has used this as leverage to pressure the Nordic countries to counter Kurdish groups it considers “terrorists” in exchange for Ankara’s yes on the accession.
While Finland’s NATO bid was ratified in April, Ankara continues to block Stockholm from joining.
Speaking to the German parliament in Berlin, Scholz said that Sweden should “sit at the summit table” as a new member of NATO.
“I call on the re-elected Turkish President Erdogan to now clear the path for this, as we all decided together last year in Madrid,” the German chancellor added.
Turkey, Sweden, and Finland signed a trilateral memorandum in Madrid in June, under which the Nordic countries would “address” Turkey’s extradition requests and establish a legal framework for facilitating the process once Turkey has provided evidence of their “terror” background.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, urging for “the importance of NATO unity in such a critical time and encouraged Türkiye’s support for Sweden to join the NATO Alliance now,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
Erdogan, who was recently elected for five more years, has accused Sweden of harboring and supporting groups including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered terrorists by Ankara.
The PKK is a Kurdish group fighting for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey and has waged an armed insurgency against Ankara for decades. The Turkey-PKK conflict has killed tens of thousands and spans across the Kurdistan Region and Syria as well.
As part of its demands, Turkey is seeking the extradition of PKK members in Sweden, with Erdogan saying that there were as many as 130 there.
