Erdogan reiterated that “Sweden should take steps on basic issues such as the fight against terrorism,” according to his office, stressing that Ankara “wants to see binding commitments on these issues along with concrete and clear measures.”
Finland and Sweden discussed their bid to join NATO with Turkey in Brussels on Monday, but Ankara dampened hopes of resolving their dispute ahead of next week’s NATO summit.
Turkish officials said Ankara did not view the summit as a deadline for resolving the dispute.
The accession of new members to NATO requires the unanimous consent of its members, giving Turkey the ability to block the application of Helsinki and Stockholm.
Ankara accuses Sweden in particular of harboring militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Ankara considers a terrorist.
The presidency said Erdogan told Andersen that Sweden “must make concrete changes in its attitude” toward the PKK and its allies in Syria.
“In this regard, no concrete Swedish action aimed at allaying Turkey’s concerns was observed,” she added.
The Turkish president also said that he is waiting for Sweden to lift the arms embargo that it imposed on Turkey in 2019, due to Ankara’s military intervention in Syria.
The phone call came after the Turkish president discussed the two countries’ candidacy for membership with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
The presidency said Erdogan told Stoltenberg that “Sweden and Finland should take concrete and honest steps” against Kurdish organizations that Ankara classifies as terrorist.
Turkey also denounces Sweden for hosting supporters of the preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom it suspects of orchestrating the July 2016 coup attempt.
Sweden was one of the first countries to designate the PKK a terrorist organization in the 1980s, but like many other Western countries it has expressed support for the PKK-allied People’s Protection Units (YPG), which fought ISIS in Syria.
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