Erdogan does not elaborate which undertakings in trilateral deal unfulfilled by Sweden

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a press conference that he sincerely wished to see Sweden in NATO after a trilateral deal between Turkey, Sweden and Finland has been fully implemented.

Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson spoke at a join press conference on Tuesday in Turkish capital Ankara after a bilateral meeting.

Erdogan said:

"It is our sincere hope that Sweden joins NATO after the full implementation of the trilateral memorandum, and that we consequently become allies following our friendly relations that go back centuries. The second meeting of the joint mechanism, which was established to monitor and implement the issues stated in the trilateral memorandum, will be held near the end of this month in Stockholm, and I hope that I will be looking at more positive results by then."

He added that he also hoped that the remaining issues are resolved before the June elections in Turkey. "We have some time till next July, but we also have elections in Turkey in June. We should be feeling very comfortable before our people," he said.

The trilateral deal

Turkey and the two Scandinavian countries had made a deal during a NATO summit in Spain in late June. Turkey agreed to give a green light for the NATO accession of the two countries provided that they crackdown on Kurdish activists allegedly affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and hand them over to Turkey, that the two governments do not support the Kurdish militia People's Defense Units (YPG) in Northern Syria, and that Stockholm lifts arms embargoes imposed on Turkey following the latter's invasion of Syrian territories in 2019.

Erdogan was asked by a Swedish journalist at the press conference which undertakings in the deal according to him were yet unfulfilled by Sweden, and how many people has Ankara wanted the Swedish government to hand over. Erdogan did not elaborate or give a figure, but said that four people were already extradited by Sweden.

He added that a Bulent Kenes, allegedly affiliated with the Gulen movement, should be handed over, and that there were many "terrorists affiliated with PKK, PYD, YPG and ISIS."