ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A delegation from aspirant NATO member Sweden met with Turkish officials on Wednesday to discuss Ankara’s demands for the extradition of people it considers to be terrorists, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported.
Turkey had threatened to block Sweden and Finland’s bids to join the 30-member military alliance. It accused the two Nordic countries of ignoring Turkish security concerns, and insisted that they change their stance on Kurdish rebels and other groups that Turkey considers as terrorists. Ankara had also demanded that an arms embargo on Turkey be lifted.
NATO operates by consensus and the Nordic countries’ membership needs Turkey’s approval to go ahead.
Officials from Sweden and Turkey’s justice ministries began two days of talks to discuss the possible extradition of people with links to outlawed Kurdish groups or the network of an exiled cleric whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016, the Anadolu Agency reported.