Visiting Turkey, Swedish PM Promises To Strengthen NATO Counterterrorism Efforts

JAKARTA - Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson traveled to Turkey on Tuesday, hoping that a new pledge to strengthen NATO's counterterrorism efforts (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) will help pave the way for Sweden and Finland into the alliance.

Before leaving for Ankara, Kristersson announced aid of 10 million Swedish crowns (US$923,000) to support NATO's counterterrorism fund.

He said Sweden would do 'more' to fight extremists at home, with new laws to strengthen the hand of counterterrorism authorities.

This is the latest step Sweden has taken to assuage criticism from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that it is soft on terrorism.

"The fact that the Swedish government takes terrorism and violent extremism very seriously is certainly an important message for President Erdogan and the Turkish government," Prime Minister Kristersson said.

"Ahead of our meeting in Ankara, I would like to inform you today that Sweden is further strengthening our international cooperation against terrorism," he continued.

NATO's voluntary counterterrorism fund supports projects from preparing soldiers for improvised explosives, to training weapons intelligence experts.

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu described Tuesday's meeting as important.

Although Sweden and Finland have taken several steps to get Turkey's approval, "it is difficult to say that they have fulfilled their promise at this stage," Foreign Minister Cavusoglu said.

The three countries signed a pact in June, under which Sweden and Finland agreed to take action against Kurdish groups that Turkey considers terrorists.

However, Turkey says it will not be satisfied until their promises turn into reality.

Kristersson, who replaced Magdalena Andersson as Sweden's prime minister last month, has vowed to implement the deal without making further concessions to Turkey.

Since taking office, the Kristersson government has ditched Sweden's flagship feminist foreign policy, opening the door to the deployment of NATO nuclear weapons on its soil.

Sweden and Finland changed their neutrality policies to seek NATO membership after Russia's invasion of Ukraine changed the security picture in Europe's far north.