Türkiye summons Swedish diplomat over PKK rally in Goteborg
ANKARA
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Türkiye has summoned the chargé d’affaires of the Swedish Embassy in Ankara in reaction to the PKK’s demonstration in Goteborg, diplomatic sources have said.
A group of PKK members and sympathizers held a rally in Goteborg on July 21, the sources stressed, describing the event as terrorist propaganda. The Swedish diplomat was reminded that the trilateral agreement signed between Türkiye, Sweden and Finland obliges the two NATO-aspirant Nordic states to take action against the terrorist demonstration and propaganda.
“In this context, our expectations for concrete moves from the Swedish authorities by taking necessary legal steps towards the perpetrators of the rally and in the light of the commitments outlined in the trilateral protocol,” the sources said about the message given to Sweden.
Signed in late June in Madrid on the sidelines of the NATO summit, the trilateral agreement stipulates that Sweden and Finland cooperate with Türkiye against all sorts of terrorist organizations, including the PKK, the YPG and the FETÖ, if they want to be a member of the alliance.
The agreement tells Sweden and Finland to take all the measures to stop the terrorists’ activities on their soils for propaganda and fund-raising etc. It does also oblige the two Scandinavian countries to extradite terrorists to Türkiye.
Türkiye gave its consent to the admission of these two states to NATO but warns that it wants to see concrete moves before the matter comes to the Turkish Parliament for final approval. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently warned that the accession process could freeze if these two nations, particularly Sweden, fail to take tangible steps.
Türkiye, Sweden and Finland will hold a meeting at the technical level in August to discuss all these matters.
Çavuşoğlu speaks with Finnish FM
In the meantime, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu held a phone conversation with Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavşsto on the phone, the sources said. The two ministers discussed the recent developments in Ukraine and the establishment of the grain corridor as well as the implementation of the trilateral agreement.