Akar: Sweden hasn’t yet fulfilled commitment to extradite terrorists to Turkiye

Sweden hasn’t yet fulfilled its commitment to extradite terrorists to Ankara, which is stipulated by the memorandum on admission to NATO signed with it and Finland in June last year in Madrid. Until these commitments are fulfilled, the Turkish side will not approve Stockholm’s application to join the North Atlantic Alliance, Turkish Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar tweeted, Report informs.

“Turkiye initially supports the open door policy in NATO. The extradition of terrorists to Turkiye as part of the fight against terrorism is a natural outcome of the signing of the Madrid Memorandum, and everyone needs to see this. We are waiting for this. As long as terrorists are supported, they do not fulfill their commitments and export restrictions for products of the defense industry remain, Turkiye cannot in any way answer yes to Sweden’s application to NATO. Unfortunately, to date, especially Sweden has not taken sufficient steps in this direction,” Akar wrote.

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara would not approve Sweden’s application for NATO membership. At the same time, he made it clear that the issue of Finland’s admission to the alliance could be resolved positively.