Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Bjöllstrom said that the ball is now in Ankara's court to start membership procedures in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as soon as possible, while Turkey stressed the need for Sweden to implement its pledges in combating organizations that Ankara considers terrorist, and stressed that the choice now rests with Stockholm.
In a statement to Al Jazeera on the sidelines of the Davos Forum at its 53rd session in the Swiss city of Davos, Bllstrom confirmed that the membership of Sweden and Finland in NATO is based on the agreement of understanding that the two countries signed with Turkey last year at the alliance summit, and he said, "This includes several points that must be met, and that is what We've been doing it for the past months."
He added, "We believe that we have done everything that was required," and the ball is now in Turkey's court to start the procedures for ratifying Sweden's membership in NATO as soon as possible, as he put it.
For its part, Turkey stresses the need for Sweden to implement its commitments to combat organizations that Ankara considers terrorist, and says that the choice is now in Stockholm's hands.
In this context, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu described the decision of the Swedish Public Prosecutor not to prosecute the participants in a demonstration he described as racist as a "very absurd" decision, and called on Sweden to abide by the commitments to combat terrorism that it had made.
"The Swedish authorities say that the demonstration falls within the framework of freedom of expression, despite their realization that the demonstration includes hatred and racism that are legally prohibited in Sweden, not to mention that they are prohibited in international standards and laws as well.
The Turkish minister called on Sweden not to procrastinate "by manipulating words and sentences," as he described it, and said that it is "deceiving itself." According to him.