Swedish PM: Turkey has to make a decision about our accession to NATO, not us

Sweden's prime minister Ulf Kristersson said on Monday that Stockholm has fulfilled its part of an agreement with Ankara regarding the latter's conditions for giving green light to Sweden's accession to NATO.

Turkey stalls ratification of Sweden's NATO membership bid as it voices objection over a claim that Sweden harbors political activists, who according to Turkish authorities are members of "terrorist groups," and demands that the Swedish government clamps down harder on such groups.

During a joint press conference held after a meeting with Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid, Kristersson was asked by the correspondent of Turkish state news agency AA "whether Sweden can give assurance that it can prevent terror propaganda" of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in the country.

Kristersson responded by saying that Sweden has fulfilled "all the conditions of the agreement" it made with Turkey, adding:

"From now on, Turkey is the only one who has to make a decision about [our] accession to NATO, not us."

Noting that Sweden is fully aware of problems Turkey has faced concerning terrorism, Kristersson said:

"On the other hand, no government can guarantee that a terrorist attack will not take place ever again in its country."