Brussels [Belgium], June 15: Sweden should not expect Turkey to approve its NATO accession ahead of next month's summit, Turkey's president said, arguing Stockholm fails to fully apply its new anti-terror laws to crack down on Kurdish militants whom Ankara considers "terrorists."
Ankara "cannot approach positively" Sweden's NATO bid while "terrorists" are protesting on Stockholm streets, said Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan as quoted by state news agency Anadolu on his return flight from Azerbaijan on Tuesday.
NATO leaders are to hold their annual summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 11 and 12.
Erdogan's remarks came hours before planned talks with Swedish, Finnish and NATO officials in Ankara.
The Swedish side is to be told not to expect a change in Ankara's stance at the Vilnius summit, Erdogan added.
Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Sweden and Finland applied to join the Western alliance, in a change of stance after decades ofneutrality.
Source: Qatar Tribune