Sweden introducing a new anti-terror law will not automatically lead to Türkiye’s ratification of its NATO membership bid, a Turkish official said, indicating that further concrete efforts are required.
Stockholm is waiting for the terror law that will go into force on June 1, the source told Daily Sabah and underlined that steps are needed and can be taken before that date.
“The law is not enough on its own,” the source added, elaborating that waiting for the bill prolonged the process as some investigations into terror suspects would be only opened after that date and take time.
“Sweden has just recently noticed the terror threat in the country,” the source said, adding that Swedish officials told their counterparts that they saw the degree to which the PKK has infiltrated the country.
According to the upcoming bill, association with a terrorist organization will be a punishable offense.
“It also proposes to make it a punishable offense to finance participation in a terrorist organization, to publicly provoke or recruit others, or to travel abroad for the purpose of committing this offense,” the Swedish government said in a written statement.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told the Aftonbladet newspaper on Tuesday that their NATO membership depended on Türkiye and that he was hopeful about the process following the coming into force of a terrorism law on June 1.
In a historic turnaround, Sweden and Finland abandoned their longstanding policies of military non-alliance and applied to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Last June, Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum to address Ankara’s legitimate security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership in the alliance.
But recent provocative demonstrations by terrorist sympathizers and Islamophobic figures in Stockholm have led Turkish leaders to question Sweden’s commitment to take the steps necessary for NATO membership.
Ankara ratified Finland's membership last month, enabling it to become a full member of the defense alliance this week.
Speaking on the ratification of Helsinki, the source said that this also served as a message to Stockholm, showing that “membership is possible if the criteria are fulfilled.”
Ankara has previously said Sweden in particular must first take a clearer stance against terrorists. Türkiye has frequently voiced that it does not oppose NATO expansion, but rather criticizes Stockholm for not taking action against elements that pose a security threat to Ankara.
The burning of Islam's holy book outside Türkiye’s Embassy in Stockholm in January sparked anger in the Islamic world, leading to weeks of protests, calls for a boycott of Swedish goods and holding up Sweden's NATO membership bid.
"It is clear that those who caused such a disgrace in front of our country's embassy can no longer expect any benevolence from us on their application for NATO membership," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in January.
