Turkey, which has been blocking Sweden and Finland from joining NATO since May, has demands that Sweden cannot and does not want to meet, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Sunday, AFP reports.

“Turkey confirms that we have done what we promised to do, but it also says that it wants what we cannot and will not give it,” Kristersson said, referring to his country’s NATO accession process during defense conference. and security in the presence of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

In May, Finland and Sweden submitted a joint bid to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, thus abandoning decades of military non-alignment.

The candidacy must be unanimously accepted by the 30 member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson made one of his first international trips to Ankara in early November to try to lift the Turkish veto.

Finland and Sweden signed a tripartite agreement with Turkey in 2022 aimed at overcoming Ankara’s objections to their joining NATO.

A sticking point that remains is the extradition of people perceived by Turkey as terrorists. Ankara expressed its disappointment at Sweden’s top court’s decision late last year not to grant an extradition request for journalist Bulent Kenes, who Turkey says has ties to Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of masterminding a 2016 coup attempt.

The only parliaments that did not ratify the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO are the parliaments of Turkey and Hungary. (Agerpres and News.ro)