Turkish Defense Minister Akar said there was no point in the visit of the Swedish colleague to the country
The visit of Swedish Defense Minister Paul Jonsson to Turkey no longer makes sense, said Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar. The fact that Turkey canceled the visit of the Swedish head of the Ministry of Defense to the country, informs HaberTurk.
On January 27, Akar’s Swedish colleague Paul Jonsson was to discuss in Ankara Stockholm’s application for NATO membership, which had not yet been ratified by Turkey. “At the moment, the visit of Swedish Defense Minister Johnson to Turkey on January 27 is neither important nor meaningful. Therefore, we canceled the visit,” Akar said.
The head of the Turkish Ministry of Defense recalled the rally held in Stockholm by supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which was banned in Turkey, at which a number of insulting statements were made against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In addition, Akar said, the Turkish authorities are concerned about the fact that the leader of the Danish far-right Hard Deal party, Rasmus Paludan, received permission to hold a rally on January 21 with the burning of the Koran near the Turkish embassy in the Swedish capital.
Finland and Sweden, against the backdrop of events in Ukraine, submitted applications to the NATO Secretary General to join the alliance. Ankara blocked the start of consideration of these applications, however, on June 29, 2022, Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a trilateral security memorandum, and Turkey withdrew its objections to these countries joining NATO.
Earlier, Hulusi Akar said that Turkey fully supports the open door policy in NATO. He urged Finland and Sweden to do more to join the alliance and noted that NATO membership is vital to the stability of their neighborhood.
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