Turkey has announced its demands for Sweden and Finland to join NATO

According to Fars News Agency’s International Group, the Turkish government on Tuesday published an official list of five requests from Sweden and Finland, which, if these requests are met, will support the two Nordic countries in NATO membership.

The Ankara government has called for “tangible guarantees” from Stockholm to sever all ties with groups such as the PKK, which has been declared a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

According to a draft published by the Turkish government’s media bureau, Ankara’s demands to the two countries are as follows:

• End political support for terrorism
• Eliminate sources of terrorist financing
• End support for Pakuk
• Lifting sanctions against Turkey
• Global cooperation against terrorism

The memo came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for respect for Turkey’s national interests and for NATO allies to take concrete steps to address Turkey’s concerns.

Former NATO Under-Secretary-General for Public Diplomacy Stephanie Babst, in an interview with Sweden’s state-run network, said that NATO’s other allies should clarify for the Turkish president. That he is taking Sweden, Finland and all 30 other NATO allies hostage to his national goals.

Commenting on the Turkish president’s statement that Finland and Sweden are like the guest houses of terrorist organizations, Bobst said that he had used them before and that the message had a domestic dimension in Turkey in view of the country’s elections.

“I am quite sure that this problem will be solved, but it will certainly be a few weeks ahead of us, which is full of crisis diplomacy and some developments,” he added. “So it will not be easy.”

End of message.