Sweden 'supports Turkey's EU membership'

STOCKHOLM - Anadolu Agency

Swedish foreign minister Margot Wallstrom has said that the country continues to support Turkey's EU membership bid.

"We continue to support Turkey's EU membership,” Wallstrom said in an interview published on Aug. 6 in Sweden newspaper Expressen.

“We are on the side of maintaining dialogue with Turkey," she added.

The foreign minister's statement comes after Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern's recent remarks that the country wanted to stop Turkey's EU membership process "due to [Turkey’s] democratic and economic deficits."

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also called Austria the “capital of radical racism” on Aug. 5 after Chancellor Kern's remarks. 

“The Austrian chancellor should first take a look at his own country. One of the trends that is an enemy of human rights and values is racism and today Austria is the capital of radical racism,” Çavuşoğlu said.