Turkey Links Sweden’s NATO Membership to Curb on Kurdish Protests

Sweden must stop protests by supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Stockholm if it wants Turkey’s green light on its NATO membership bid, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in a phone call on Sunday.

Erdoğan told Stoltenberg that Turkey had a constructive attitude, but Sweden’s recent change of terrorism laws to meet Turkish demands remained “meaningless” as long as PKK supporters continued to hold protests in Sweden, the Turkish presidency said in a statement.

Sweden recently introduced a new law to make it harder to finance or support “terrorist groups.” However, Turkey said this was not enough, and that Sweden harbors “terrorist” groups, in particular the PKK, which has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union, and the United States.

NATO members have expressed hope that Sweden will become a member in time for a mid-July summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Both Sweden and Finland reversed decades of military non-alignment and applied to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.

Finland joined NATO in April, but Turkey has continued to block Sweden’s membership, citing security concerns. Last week, Erdoğan said Sweden should not expect a green light from Turkey unless it prevents “anti-Turkey” protests.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said last week that Turkey’s parliament should begin ratifying Sweden’s bid because it had met its obligations under the deal with Turkey.