Turkish FM calls on NATO allies to end support for YPG

ANKARA

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu called on NATO allies, particularly the United States, to end support to the “terror groups” in Syria.

“The support of the U.S. and some of its allies to terrorist organizations in Syria is obvious. They must end this support,” he told reporters after a NATO meeting in Romania on Nov. 30.

The minister recalled his discussions with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and said, “We told them that the perpetrators of the Istanbul attack… They were able to do these with the support you provided them.”

On one side the NATO allies make solidarity statements after the attack in Istanbul, the minister said, but criticized the “but” point in their remarks when it comes to Türkiye’s response to the terror groups, particularly in Syria.

The NATO allies confirm that Türkiye has the “right to maintain its security, then they say ‘but’ and talk about international law, civilians, etc.,” the minister said.

“We see attempts to prevent Türkiye, such as shoot from the air but do not make decisions,” Çavuşoğlu said and stressed that Ankara gives “the necessary response” when such rhetoric was expressed by his interlocutors on the issue of Türkiye’s possible ground incursion into northern Syria.

Citing his meetings on the sidelines of the NATO meeting, the minister said, “There is more unity in NATO than ever before. We emphasized in the meetings we held here that we want to see the same unity and solidarity in the fight against terrorism.”

Türkiye welcomes the new Swedish government’s commitment to fighting against terrorism, Çavuşoğlu also said.

The steps taken by the new government in Sweden is more determined than the previous government, but yet Ankara wants to see concrete steps in the extradition of terror suspects and freezing of terrorist assets, he said and noted that, “terrorist activities continue” in Sweden. “The explanations are fine, the determination is fine, but concrete steps need to be seen,” he added.

Çavuşoğlu, Sweden’s Tobias Billstrom and Finland’s Pekka Haavisto, met on Nov. 29 on the sidelines of a meeting of the alliance in the Romanian capital Bucharest and discussed the steps to take to meet Türkiye’s concerns regarding the Nordic countries NATO bid.

They “reviewed steps taken in line with the Trilateral Memorandum and stressed [Türkiye’s] expectations,” Çavuşoğlu tweeted.

In June, Türkiye, Sweden and Finland struck a deal that included provisions for the extradition of terrorists and sharing of information.

Sweden and Finland had taken some steps to address Türkiye’s concerns but Ankara said more concrete actions are needed for the Turkish Parliament’s ratification of their accession to the alliance.

Sweden and Finland have made good progress toward the deal with Türkiye on the Nordic countries’ admission to NATO, Billstrom said. “We had a very good trilateral yesterday between Sweden, Finland, and Türkiye and I felt after this meeting that there is progress. We are moving forward,” Billstrom told reporters on Nov. 30.

Finland and Sweden dropped decades of military non-alignment and scrambled to become NATO members in May, after Russia invaded Ukraine. New Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited Ankara early this month to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as Stockholm hoped to secure Türkiye’s approval.

Among all NATO members, only Hungary and Türkiye are left to green-light their application. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said last week that parliament would approve Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO next year.