Negotiations on Sweden's bid to join NATO are still in the early stage, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Thursday, indicating that concrete steps have not yet been taken.

Sweden continues to be a center of attraction for members of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), Çavuşoğlu underlined during a joint news conference with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström in the capital Ankara.

"There is no concrete development regarding the extradition of terrorist-related criminals and the freezing of terrorist assets," Çavuşoğlu said. "We are not even halfway there, we are just at the beginning."

Billström, for his part, underlined that Türkiye and Sweden engage in intense cooperation against terrorism. "We are in a process of strengthening our fight against terrorism. Supporting or promoting terrorism will now be a crime. Supporting PKK activities on Swedish soil will become a criminal element."

The PKK and FETÖ terrorist groups are not only a threat to Türkiye but to other countries as well, he added.


Addressing Sweden, Çavuşoğlu said, "We do not want the impossible, we ask for your support in the fight against terrorism. Our relationship with you is at the strategic partnership level, we want you to understand the security concerns of the country you want to be an ally of."

Çavuşoğlu also said that there has been no concrete development on the extradition of terrorists yet.

Stockholm has long been criticized by Ankara for housing members of various terrorist organizations, particularly members of the PKK and, in recent years, FETÖ – the organization behind the 2016 defeated coup attempt in Türkiye.

Türkiye has provided a list of wanted individuals to Sweden and expects the Scandinavian nation to take swift action to show that its demands are being addressed.

According to the Swedish government, each case will be dealt with individually and if found guilty, suspects who are residents will lose their residency, paving the way for their extradition to Türkiye.

The Swedish Supreme Court's decision to block the extradition of Bülent Keneş is a "very negative" development, Çavuşoğlu reiterated. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last month singled out Keneş, who has asylum in Sweden, as a person Ankara wants to be extradited from Stockholm. Keneş is the former editor-in-chief and columnist at the now-defunct English-language daily Today's Zaman, which is linked to FETÖ.

The court's decision "has seriously poisoned ... sincere" talks with Sweden, Çavuşoğlu added, without elaborating.

Earlier this month, Sweden deported Mahmut Tat, who is wanted by Ankara for membership in the PKK. He applied for asylum in Sweden in 2015 because of his sentence but was denied.

"They deported a PKK-affiliated person to our country. These are steps in the right direction. However, there is no concrete development on some issues such as the extradition of terrorist-related criminals and the freezing of terrorist assets."

Saying that positive steps have also been taken, Çavuşoğlu said that the new Swedish government is more honest and decisive in its approach than the previous one.

"There is a document, and it has to be fulfilled."

On the other side, Sweden announced in September that it was removing an arms embargo it had imposed on Ankara in 2019 following Ankar’s counterterrorism operation in Syria. However, Çavuşoğlu has said that the Turkish defense companies "did not get the necessary positive response" from Sweden when it came to importing certain products.

For Sweden and Finland to become NATO members, their applications must be ratified by all 30 NATO members. So far, 28 have already done so – only Türkiye and Hungary have votes still pending.

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in June, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine.

However, Türkiye voiced objections to the membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.

Ahead of a historic NATO summit, the three countries signed a trilateral deal in June that prevented a Turkish veto. In the memorandum, the Nordic countries said they would address Türkiye’s extradition requests for terrorists. The joint memorandum states that Finland and Sweden "will not provide support to ... the organization described as FETÖ" as well as terrorist groups.

Sweden and Finland agreed earlier this summer to assure Türkiye of their support against security risks. Türkiye is awaiting the extradition of dozens of terrorist suspects from the two Nordic countries.

Türkiye is expected to host the parliament speakers of Finland and Sweden in January.