1673986905 Turkey urges NATO aspirants to hand over their terrorists before

Turkey urges NATO aspirants to ‘hand over their terrorists’ before approving membership: report

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed on Monday that he would oppose the NATO offers made by hopefuls Sweden and Finland if they did not deport around 130 “terrorists”.

“We said look, so if you don’t turn your terrorists over to us, we can’t pass it [approval of the NATO application] through parliament anyway,” Erdogan said in a comment late on Sunday. “In order for parliament to pass, you first have to hand over more than 100, around 130 of these terrorists to us.”

The two Nordic countries applied to join NATO in May after Russia invaded Ukraine and transformed the security apparatus in Europe. Turkey immediately expressed reservations about requests for assistance from Kurdish militants, whom Turkey considers terrorists.

“We are following developments regarding Sweden and Finland, but we are not positive about them,” Erdogan said in response to the official bids. All nations wishing to join the NATO alliance need the unanimous support of all 30 member states.

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“As long as Tayyip Erdogan is the head of the Republic of Turkey, we definitely cannot say ‘yes’ to countries that support NATO’s entry into terrorism,” Erdogan told reporters shortly after his first statements.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a news conference May 14, 2022 in Ankara, Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a news conference May 14, 2022 in Ankara, Turkey. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

But Sweden has said over the past two weeks that it cannot and will not meet Turkey’s demands, Euronews reported.

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Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto claimed that Erdogan’s renewed resistance followed an incident in Stockholm last week in which Kurdish protesters burned an effigy of the Turkish leader, saying: “I think it must have been a reaction to the events of the past few days . ”

Andreas, 39 years old, a member of Sweden's Solidarity Committee for Rojava, is reflected next to a car bearing an effigy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Stockholm January 16, 2023.  Their action and the pro-Kurdish activists who hung an effigy of the Turkish President on January 11, 2023 are seen as a possible delay in Sweden's entry into NATO.

Andreas, 39 years old, a member of Sweden’s Solidarity Committee for Rojava, is reflected next to a car bearing an effigy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Stockholm January 16, 2023. Their action and the pro-Kurdish activists who hung an effigy of the Turkish President on January 11, 2023 are seen as a possible delay in Sweden’s entry into NATO. (Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images)

The protesters called on Erdogan to resign “before he is hanged at Taksim,” a nod to Istanbul’s main square.

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Tensions between Turkey and the Kurdish population have remained high after an explosion at a busy Istanbul street market in November 2022 that killed six and injured 81 others.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto addresses a news conference in Salen, Sweden, January 8, 2023.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto addresses a news conference in Salen, Sweden, January 8, 2023. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkish authorities linked the attack to a woman of northern Syrian origin, and Erdogan authorized airstrikes on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Syrian People’s Protection Units (YPG) bases, although both groups denied any involvement in the bombing.

Erdogan has even hinted at his intention to invade northern Syria to directly pursue the groups, although no such invasion has yet taken place.

Experts told Fox News Digital at the time that the invasion would result from purely political motives as Erdogan sought to bolster support ahead of Turkey’s June 2023 presidential election.

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“The timing of this operation will be much closer to the upcoming Turkish presidential election, so they can get the maximum political benefit from it,” said Sinan Ciddi, an expert on Turkey’s domestic and foreign policy at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said separately on Monday that his country remains confident of Turkey’s ratification for NATO membership.

Peter Aitken is a reporter at Fox News Digital specializing in national and global news.