NATO | Sweden’s NATO negotiator on stalled negotiations: We would probably make the situation worse

Turkey and Sweden’s negotiations on Sweden’s NATO membership are frozen for the time being.

Sveriges Radio the Swedish NATO negotiator interviewed on the Sunday morning program by Oscar Stenström according to him, the negotiations “do not make sense right now”. This is reported by the Swedish information agency TT.

“Continuing the negotiations would probably lead to us making the situation worse,” he told the Godmorgon världen program.

Turkey was angry with Sweden that the Swedish government did not prevent a demonstration organized in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm last Saturday, in which a Swedish-Danish far-right Rasmus Paludan burned the Koran.

On Tuesday, Turkey canceled negotiations with Finland and Sweden on the ratification of the countries’ NATO membership for the time being.

Stenstrom commented on the suspension of negotiations in the Godmorgon världen program.

“We have agreed together with my Turkish colleague that it does not make sense to continue discussions or meet face to face, as it would probably lead to the situation escalating.”

According to Stenström, burning the Koran is not against the law.

“It’s a legitimate way to express an opinion, but it’s really not appropriate for these conversations we’re having now.”

According to Stenström, the risk is that the atmosphere will tighten. Demonstrations against Sweden have already been organized in some Muslim countries.

“We must be able to have a constructive dialogue where the parties respect each other. As long as the fire is off, it won’t happen,” he said.

Stenstrom emphasized that in the future, Sweden should act even more strongly against the Kurdish party PKK, which is classified as a terrorist organization, also in terms of funding.

Stenström also reminded that new anti-terrorism laws will enter into force in Sweden, which will make it easier to bring charges against members of terrorist organizations.

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has often criticized Sweden for its too lenient approach to terrorism.