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Turkey demands 'concrete steps' to back Nordics' NATO bids

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ANKARA, Turkey -

A senior Turkish official insisted after talks with Swedish and Finnish officials Wednesday that Turkey would not agree to the two Nordic countries joining NATO unless specific steps are taken to address Ankara's objections.

鈥淲e have made it very clear that if Turkey's security concerns are not met with concrete steps in a certain timeframe the process will not progress,鈥 Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference after the talks in Ankara that lasted about five hours.

Kalin is the spokesman of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and a senior presidential aide.

Sweden and Finland submitted their written applications to join NATO last week, in a move representing one of the biggest geopolitical ramifications of Russia's war in Ukraine that could rewrite Europe's security map.

Turkey has said it opposes the countries' membership in the Western military alliance, citing grievances with Sweden's - and a to a lesser extent Finland's - perceived support of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and other entities that Turkey views as security threats.

The PKK, which is listed as a terror organization by several of Turkey's allies, has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey, a conflict that has cost the lives of tens of thousands people.

The Turkish government also accuses Finland and Sweden of imposing arms exports restrictions on Turkey and refusing to extradite suspected 鈥渢errorists.鈥

Turkey's objections have dampened Stockholm's and Helsinki's hopes for joining NATO quickly amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine and put the trans-Atlantic alliance's credibility at stake. All 30 NATO members must agree on admitting new members.

The Swedish and Finnish delegations met with Kalin and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal. The Swedish delegation was led by state secretary Oscar Stenstrom, while Jukka Salovaara, the foreign ministry undersecretary, headed up the Finnish delegation, Turkish officials said.

Kalin said Turkey's proposal to lift arms export limits was met with a 鈥減ositive attitude鈥 by the Swedish and Finnish delegations.

He added that talks would continue once the Nordic governments had responded to Turkey's demands.

Turkey also expects the extradition of 28 鈥渢errorism鈥 suspects from Sweden and 12 from Finland, Kalin said, adding that there was 鈥渘o legal or judicial basis鈥 not to extradite them. Turkish state media had previously said Turkey demanded the extradition of 33 suspects from the two countries.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said following a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel in Stockholm that her country wanted to 鈥渃larify鈥 claims that have been floating around during discussions with Turkey.

鈥淲e do not send money or weapons to terrorist organizations,鈥 Andersson said.

During a news conference with the Estonian prime minister later Wednesday, Andersson said that 鈥渋n these times, it is important to strengthen our security.鈥

She said Sweden has 鈥渁 constructive dialogue鈥 with Turkey and that Stockholm was 鈥渆ager to sort out issues and misunderstandings and questions.鈥

Michel, who is scheduled to head to Helsinki from Stockholm, said it was 鈥渁 pivotal moment for Sweden鈥 and 鈥渨e fully support your choices.鈥

Turkey this week listed five 鈥渃oncrete assurances鈥 it was demanding from Sweden, including what it said was 鈥渢ermination of political support for terrorism,鈥 an 鈥渆limination of the source of terrorism financing,鈥 and the 鈥渃essation of arms support鈥 to the banned PKK and a Syrian Kurdish militia group affiliated with it.

The demands also called for the lifting of arms sanctions against Turkey and global cooperation against terrorism.

Turkey said that it has requested the extradition of Kurdish militants and other suspects since 2017 but hasn't received a positive response from Stockholm. The Turkish government claimed Sweden had decided to provide $376 million to support the Kurdish militants in 2023 and that it had provided them with military equipment, including anti-tank weapons and drones.

Finland has received nine extradition requests from Turkey in a recent period covering over three years, Finnish news agency STT said Wednesday, citing data from the Finnish justice ministry. Two people were extradited while six of the requests were rejected. A decision was pending regarding one other case.

Speaking Tuesday before a meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Russia had left Sweden and Finland 鈥渘o choice鈥 but to join NATO.

She said Germany would support the two countries' membership, calling it 鈥渁 real gain鈥 for the military alliance.

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Andrew Wilks in Istanbul, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Jari Tanner in Helsinki contributed to this report.

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