A Swedish delegation negotiates in Turkey to unblock the Swedish and Finnish NATO candidacy

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A Swedish delegation held talks with Ankara on Wednesday to unblock NATO membership for Sweden and Finland, which has not yet taken place due to Turkey’s refusal to agree to it.

During a seven-hour meeting, the Turkish government has again insisted on the extradition of alleged terrorists allegedly staying in Sweden and Finland and who would be members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), state news channel TRT has reported and DPA has picked up.

Ankara has again accused both countries of supporting the banned PKK, as well as the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. Therefore, it has again made Turkish support for the accession of both countries to the Atlantic Alliance conditional on the extradition of the members of these alleged terrorists.

Representatives of the Swedish and Turkish Justice Ministries participated in the talks, according to the report accessed by the aforementioned agency. Another day of talks is scheduled for Thursday.

After decades of neutrality, Finland and Sweden applied to join the Western alliance in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.

However, ratification requires unanimous approval and Turkey has yet to endorse membership, citing security concerns. Since then, diplomatic efforts have been made to respond to Ankara’s fears.