Published:
Jul 5, 2022 10:56 GMT
–
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu admitted that the organizations that Ankara regards as “terrorists” are not mentioned in the memorandum as such, but indirectly.
–
Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, warned this Monday in an interview for the chain NTV that Ankara will revoke its endorsement for Sweden and Finland to join NATO if they do not meet the commitments in the memorandum of understanding signed last week. “If these countries they don’t keep their wordwe will take our measures accordingly,” assured the foreign minister, quoted by the news agency Anadolu.
In this sense, Cavusoglu stressed the importance of the trilateral agreement reached on the eve of the NATO summit in Madrid. “First of all, they are committed to cooperate fully with Turkey in the fight against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its extensions. There is also a commitment to lift the embargo and defense restrictions and increase cooperation,” he noted.
–
–
–
–
The head of Turkish diplomacy admitted that the PKK, the People’s Protection Units (YPG, for its acronym in Kurdish) and some other organizations such as the Democratic Union Party (PYD) are “indirectly defined as terrorist organizations” in the memorandum. Along these lines, Cavusoglu noted that Helsinki and Stockholm “lend full support in response to threats to Turkey’s national security“, as enshrined in article 4 of the document.
This Tuesday both Nordic countries signed the accession protocols to the Atlantic Alliance and now their entry depends on ratification of the documents by each member state of the military bloc.
- Turkish demands about Kurdish organizations, considered “terrorists” by Ankara, also included requests for the extradition of individuals who found refuge in Sweden and Finland. In addition, the end of the arms embargo, imposed by the two countries after the start of the Turkish incursion into northern Syria in 2019, was also on the agenda.
–
