Erdogan says Turkey won't 'back down' on demands for Sweden’s NATO bid

ANKARA — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amped up the rhetoric against Stockholm on Monday with merely days left before the critical meeting between Turkish, NATO and Swedish officials over the Nordic nation’s bid to join the alliance.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan said his country would not back down until Stockholm meets Ankara’s demands for ratifying the accession. “The sooner our counterparts accept this fact, the healthier the process will be,” Erdogan said, adding, “From here we advise them to act rigorously and do their homework better.”

Alluding to news reports about a joint Swedish-American investigation over a graft complaint involving Erdogan’s younger son Bilal, the Turkish president said his country would not cave to “the politics of veiled threats” in an apparent jab at Sweden and the United States, without naming either country. 

“We clearly see the aim of the dirty games that are being played through media outlets,” Erdogan said. “The whole world knows and should know that we will not surrender to threats, provocations or cunning through veiled threats. … It is obvious that those who think that they can get away with such low blows do not know us, Turkey and the Turkish nation."

In an exclusive report last week, Reuters reported that Swedish and US prosecutors were reviewing whether a Swedish affiliate of an American company had pledged to pay kickbacks to Bilal Erdogan as it was trying to sell its dashboard breathalyzers to Turkey. "Ultimately, no kickbacks were paid," the report read, adding that the Swedish company abruptly left the project. While Turkish government officials strongly denied the report and blocked access to the piece on the internet, Erdogan did not address to the news last week as he slammed Stockholm for granting permission for a Quran-burning protest last week. 

His remarks on Monday came merely days before a new round of negotiations scheduled to be held on Thursday between Turkish, Swedish and NATO officials. The talks are largely aimed at convincing Ankara to ratify Sweden’s accession to the transatlantic alliance before NATO’s annual summit is held in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 11-12. Stockholm, NATO, the Biden administration and the majority of alliance member states have been pressing to finalize the enlargement in a bid to present a strong united front against Russia. 

Ankara, in turn, is pushing for more concrete steps against Sweden-based individuals and groups that it deems terrorists.

Speaking on Monday, Erdogan reiterated his country’s position, saying that his country was expecting Sweden to provide sanctuary for the members of those groups. “As Turkey, we want it to be known that we will not back down until these are met,” he said.