(Al-Arabiya) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that Sweden had to stop protests by supporters of the Ankara-criminalized Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Stockholm if it wanted Turkey to approve its NATO membership.
“Turkey maintains its constructive stance regarding Sweden’s membership but that legislative amendments would be meaningless so long as PKK/PYD/YPG supporters organize demonstrations freely in this country,” according to a readout of the phone call between Erdogan and Stoltenberg.
Erdogan also stressed during the call, “the injustices faced within the context of the F-35s and the attempts to associate Turkey’s requests about the F-16s with Sweden’s membership would harm NATO and its security rather than Turkey.”
