Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christerson expressed optimism about his country joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stipulated that Sweden and Finland deport up to 130 "terrorists" to Turkey, before the Turkish parliament approved their efforts to join the alliance.

In a press conference held on Monday morning, Christerson said, "I think we are still in a good position," referring to the ongoing negotiations on joining NATO.

Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO in the wake of the Russian war on Ukraine, but all thirty member states of the alliance must approve their request, and Turkey and Hungary have expressed their reservations about it.

Turkey's position

Late Sunday evening, Erdogan said that relations between Turkey and Sweden may become more tense if the Stockholm authorities do not stop the provocations of the "terrorist" Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inside its territory.

Erdogan added in a speech during an event organized by the Justice and Development Party in the state of Mugla (southwest), "We see demonstrations of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the streets of Sweden, which we warn in this regard, but unfortunately Stockholm did not stop these demonstrations."

Regarding the membership of Sweden and Finland in NATO, the Turkish president said, "I said: Look, if we do not receive the terrorists you have, Parliament will never pass (approving the request to join the alliance)," referring to the joint press conference that Erdogan held with Christerson in November. last second.

"For parliament to pass this, you must first hand over 100 terrorists, about 130 terrorists, to us," Erdogan added.

He pointed out that Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentoub informed his Swedish counterpart of canceling the visit, which the latter was intending to make to Ankara soon, in order to express "Turkey's dissatisfaction with the Swedish authorities' disregard of the terrorist PKK provocations."

Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for the Turkish president, said on Saturday that time is running out for the Turkish parliament to approve Sweden and Finland's efforts to join the alliance, before the presidential and parliamentary elections to be held in May.

Turkey insists that Sweden take a clearer stance against what Ankara considers terrorists, most of whom are supporters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the opposition preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of masterminding the 2016 coup attempt.

Sweden and Finland signed a tripartite agreement with Turkey in June, in which the two northern European countries pledged to consider “pending requests for extradition or extradition to Turkey of suspected terrorists, expeditiously and fully,” taking into account the demands of Turkish intelligence and complying with all European laws.