‘They Have to Comply’: Ankara Will Still Veto NATO Accession if Finland, Sweden Don’t Keep to Deal

While Turkish, Finnish and Swedish leaders have signed a protocol that ostensibly ends a dispute over support for Kurdish groups and individuals, Ankara has signaled it expects the Northern European states to live up to their end of the bargain or the deal is off.

Speaking to Turkey’s NTV television station on Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Helsinki and Stockholm have to end their support for Kurdish groups and extradite wanted Kurds to Turkey, as they agreed last week at the NATO summit in Madrid.

“They have to comply with this document, if they don’t then we won’t allow them to join NATO,” Cavusoglu said.

The chief diplomat outlined some of the most salient parts of the trilateral memorandum, including being “committed to full cooperation” with Turkey against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its associated groups and lifting their bans on selling weapons to Ankara. They also committed to updating existing legislation on counterterrorism and extradition.

“If these countries do not keep their word, we will take our steps accordingly,” he added.

The memorandum was signed on June 22 and saw Turkey agree to drop its objections to Finland and Sweden joining the NATO alliance, as the latter had signaled their intent to become members of the bloc earlier this year following the launch of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. However, while the text of the agreement was published, almost immediately the two sides began disputing claims made about the specifics they had allegedly discussed, the most sensitive of which is the issue of extradition.

Speaking on June 30, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed he was “given guarantees” about the extradition of 73 PKK members by Sweden. In response, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde pointed to the signed document, noting there was “no mentioning of any lists or any numbers” in it.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto similarly stated his country would never give up its own citizens if it fears the death penalty awaits them.

“It is important that we work against terrorism, but obviously we do so according to Swedish laws and international conventions,” Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson also told reporters over the weekend. “If you are not engaged in terrorism, you have no reason to be concerned.”

Since 1978, the PKK has led the Kurdish struggle for independence, fighting both armed right-wing militias and the Turkish state in eastern Turkey. However, Ankara has also launched several operations across the border into Iraq and Syria in recent years, where large numbers of Kurds also live, in an attempt to destroy the bases of the PKK and other groups such as the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a US-allied group.