Turkey's Erdogan ups pressure on US, Sweden ahead of NATO summit

ANKARA — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan boosted pressure on Stockholm on Friday ahead of his critical Monday meeting with Sweden’s premier Ulf Kristersson over the Nordic nation’s pending NATO bid.

In a televised address in Istanbul, Erdogan jabbed at Sweden and other Western capitals that have been pressing to finalize the Swedish accession before NATO’s annual summit on July 11-12. “The essence of the alliance is the institution of mutual trust and solidarity. Without it, it’s meaningless to talk about other subjects,” Erdogan said.

“Those who advise us should first reply to these questions frankly: How can Turkey trust a country where terrorists wander around on its streets?” he added.

During his meeting with Kristersson at the White House earlier this week, US President Joe Biden said his country “fully, fully, fully” supports Sweden’s membership and that he was “anxiously looking forward” to it.

Erdogan and Kristersson are set to gather before the bloc’s summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Monday in a meeting aiming to convince Ankara on an 11th-hour change of heart to drop its stiff demands of Stockholm and ratify the Nordic nation’s membership. The accession process requires consensus among all NATO members. Hungary and Turkey have been the sole holdouts, but Budapest signaled this week that it wouldn’t drag its feet once Turkey approves the move.

Thursday's high-level talks between Turkish and Swedish foreign ministers and NATO's chief appeared to yield no sign of progress with both sides reiterating their competing positions. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan pressed for more concrete steps from  Stockholm, while his Swedish counterpart Tobias Billstrom insisted that his country had fulfilled its commitments to Turkey. 

Sweden changed its counterterrorism laws and amended its constitution in accordance with Ankara’s demands. Turkey, however, is still pressing Sweden to further restrict the activities of groups it deems terrorist organizations and extradite or deport their members.

Speaking on Friday, Erdogan reiterated his country’s demand for a crackdown on the followers of US-based Sunni cleric Fethullah Gulen as well as on groups and individuals allegedly linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, which has been waging an armed conflict against the Turkish state for self-rule since 1984.

“Those who want a show of solidarity within NATO cannot have any justification for embracing the murderers who attempted a coup in Turkey and killed thousands of our people over the past 40 years,” he said. Ankara accuses the Gulen movement of masterminding the 2016 coup attempt and has designated it as a terrorist organization.