“The new Swedish Prime Minister has asked to be received. I told our friends: ‘make an appointment so that he comes’,” Erdogan said, according to Turkish media.
Erdogan, who threatens to block Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO, warned again that the Turkish parliament will not ratify the accession of the two countries until Ankara’s demands are met, such as the extradition of people whom Turkey considers ” terrorists”.
“Those terrorists must be caught and handed over to us,” he said. Ankara accuses Sweden and Finland of protecting fighters from Kurdish parties PKK and YPG, two groups that Ankara classifies as terrorists.
Sweden has previously announced that it will once again allow the export of arms and war material to Turkey, also a condition for Turkey to approve the accession.
Sweden and Finland can only join NATO if all thirty member states ratify the candidacies. Twenty-eight countries have already done so, Turkey and Hungary not yet.