JAKARTA - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has warned Sweden that Ankara will not support NATO's membership nomination unless it takes firm steps against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Turkey.
The high diplomat's remarks came after Thursday's pro-PKK demonstration in Stockholm, in which insulting remarks were made against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a doll similar to him hanging upside down at a pole in front of the town hall.
"The PKK lays mines for Swedish membership in NATO. If the Swedish government does not respond to the action appropriately, we will not give the answer Sweden has been waiting for regarding the NATO membership offer. That's open and clear. Sweden must make its choice," Cavusoglu said in a TRT TV broadcast., reported TASS January 13.
Furthermore, he said, Ankara expects Sweden to honor its memorandum in fighting terrorist organizations, a condition for Turkey's approval of the nomination of NATO membership in Stockholm. The document was signed last June on the sidelines of the NATO summit held in Madrid.
Turkish authorities have condemned the actions of PKK supporters in Stockholm. Sweden's ambassador to Ankara was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Thursday, raising protests over the incident.
Separately, Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop canceled a January 17 visit to Ankara by Sweden's head of parliament, in which it is planned to discuss the membership of the Nordic country in NATO.
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