Swedes reject legal compromises to win Turkey’s NATO approval- Survey

Swedes reject legal compromises to win Turkey’s NATO approval- Survey
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A total of 79 percent Swedes said the country should abide by its laws even if it means delaying its joining NATO

A vast majority of Swedish voters reject any concessions on the country’s legal principles to win Turkey’s approval for their NATO accession, a recent survey by Ipsos showed.

A total of 79 percent of those surveyed said Sweden should continue to abide by its laws in the face of Turkish demands even if it means delaying its joining to the military alliance, while only 10 percent said the country should seek to join asap regardless of whether that involves legal concessions, Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen TV reported on Tuesday.

The online survey was conducted of 1,248 participants and commissioned by Dagens Nyhthe newspaper, it said.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb.24, Sweden, alongside with Finland officially applied for NATO membership. The final approval of the two Scandinavian countries’ NATO bids depends on the current 30 member states’ parliaments, where Ankara says it will not approve the accession documents if Stockholm and Helsinki fail to fulfil Turkey’s extradition requests of terror suspects.

According to Swedish media, Turkey expects Sweden to extradite to 42 people, mostly accused by Ankara of being a member of a “terrorist” organization.