President Erdoan Firmly Warns Finland And Sweden: We Await Response To Request For Extradition, Don't Expect Compromise

President Erdogan (third from right) attends the 2022 NATO summit in Madrid. (Wikimedia Commons/US Mission to NATO)

JAKARTA - President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey still has concrete expectations from Sweden and Finland regarding its concerns about terrorist groups, as both countries pledged to fulfill Ankara's demands to become a member of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).

"We are waiting for a response to our extradition request and the two countries should not expect Turkey to compromise," Erdogan said in a live broadcast on TRT Monday, quoted from Daily Sabah on July 26.

He continued, that the two countries should not expect Turkey to support their NATO accession unless they prevent terrorists from carrying out anti-Turkish activities.

Furthermore, President Erdogan also said Ankara was also disturbed by the attitude shown by Germany, France, Italy, and others regarding Ankara's counterterrorism concerns. He noted that the Swedish and Finnish delegations had mentioned that other European countries had a similar stance.

Last week, Turkish resident Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated that his country gave conditional approval to the candidacy of Sweden and Finland as members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and could stop the process if the two countries fail to comply with the necessary steps related to dealing with terrorists.

"We see that Sweden, in particular, did not fulfill its promises," the president told a news conference at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara.

President Erdogan noted that Turkey has openly and frequently reiterated its concerns regarding NATO expansion, and Ankara has a firm stance on the matter.

"As Turkey, our position is clear. The rest is up to them," said President Erdogan.

As previously reported, Turkey, Sweden, and Finland signed a trilateral memorandum at the end of June on the process of NATO membership of the Nordic countries after an important meeting of the NATO summit in Madrid, where Ankara got the long-awaited concrete steps, especially in the field of terrorism.

Turkey agreed to lift its veto over Finland and Sweden's bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), after the three countries agreed to protect each other's security, ending weeks of drama.