President Erdoğan: We want to improve our bilateral relations with Sweden in every area
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden held a joint press conference following their tête-à-tête and the meeting between the delegations at the Presidential Complex.
“TÜRKİYE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A STRONG SUPPORTER OF NATO’S OPEN DOOR POLICY”
Stating that besides the bilateral relations between Türkiye and Sweden, today’s meetings addressed regional and global matters, the Russia-Ukraine war in particular, as well as the Türkiye-European Union relations, President Erdoğan said: “Sweden’s NATO membership application was high on the agenda of our talks. Türkiye has always been a strong supporter of NATO’s open door policy. In fact, it was in line with this approach of ours did we give approval to the beginning of Sweden and Finland’s admission negotiations.”
Noting that Türkiye understood the security concerns that led Sweden to end its 200-year-old policy of not joining military alliances, President Erdoğan stated: “As is known, Türkiye is fighting such terrorist organizations as PKK/PYD/YPG, FETO, DHKP/C and DAESH. We have lost over 40 thousand citizens of ours, most of them children and women, in the treacherous attacks of these terrorist organizations. Lastly, during the July 15 treacherous attempt, our 252 people, 29 of them in the vicinity of this building, were martyred by FETO terrorists. Mr. Prime Minister has today visited our Ghazi Parliament and seen in person how FETO terrorist organization has sought to stab our democracy in the heart. Sweden wants NATO membership for its own security, and we expect Sweden to support us in addressing our own security concerns.”
“TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS SHOULD DEFINITELY BE PREVENTED FROM EXPLOITING THE DEMOCRATIC ENVIRONMENT IN SWEDEN”
“One of the most fundamental elements of NATO, as stressed in the Trilateral Memorandum signed in Madrid, is full solidarity and cooperation in combatting terror in all its forms and manifestations,” President Erdoğan underscored, and continued as follows: “We are pleased about the commitments the new Swedish government has made regarding the implementation of the Trilateral Memorandum. Likewise, the lifting of the restrictions imposed on our country in defense industry and the beginning of export permissions are both positive steps. During our talks with Mr. Prime Minister today, I have openly shared our expectations about the realization of the provisions stated in the Memorandum through concrete steps.”
“PKK/PYD/YPG, FETO and DHKP/C terrorist organizations should definitely be prevented from exploiting the democratic environment in Sweden,” President Erdoğan said, and added: “It is our sincere expectation that Sweden becomes a NATO member after the Trilateral Memorandum is fully implemented as a whole, and thus adding the allyship aspect to our friendly relations dating back to centuries. I hope we will be facing a more positive picture when the second meeting of the Permanent Joint Mechanism, which was established to ensure and observe the implementation of the provisions stated in the Trilateral Memorandum and which include Finland, will be held late this month in Stockholm.”
President Erdoğan further noted: “We want to improve our bilateral relations with Sweden, our strategic partner, in every area, from trade and defense industry to mutual investments and tourism. Our bilateral trade volume reached 3.7 billion dollars last year and broke a record. Given our potential, we aim to increase this figure to 5 billion dollars as soon as possible.”
