Sweden will fully implement the memorandum signed with Türkiye and will not develop any dialogue with terrorist groups, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Tuesday ahead of his meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
"Türkiye has very legitimate demands on every new NATO member to be a true security provider also for the other allies, we are aware of this. We have ongoing efforts. We are taking concrete steps. You will see that the restrictions in the defense industry will be lifted and we will take concrete steps such as the start of arms exports. We will expand the legislation on terrorism. We are taking concrete steps. You will see," Kristersson said as he met with Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop in the capital Ankara.
Kristersson stated that Sweden will not enter into a dialogue with terrorist organizations and that necessary steps will be taken for this.
"I think the new government will have an even firmer approach in (relation to) the NATO application from Sweden," Kristersson told reporters in Ankara during the visit to the Turkish parliament.
"One of this government's main priorities is fighting crime, fighting organized crime, fighting the connection between organized crime and terrorism," he said.
"Sweden wants to join NATO to enhance our own security, but Sweden also wants to be a security provider for others," Kristersson said.
He also said the meeting is a good mechanism for the implementation and follow-up of the trilateral deal, noting: "The group leader of my party has begun to work on the creation of a Türkiye Friendship Group."
Şentop, for his part, said that Sweden's security is not separate from Türkiye's, and Ankara expects the Swedish government to take concrete steps in fighting terrorism.
The Turkish parliament speaker stressed that Ankara welcomed Stockholm's efforts to improve bilateral relations and expressed his wishes that this determination would reflect on interparliamentary relations as well.
"No progress has been made on our extradition requests. We expect Sweden to put an end to the activities of these terrorist organizations and their extensions by taking concrete steps," he added.
Kristersson is paying an official two-day visit to Türkiye that started Monday, upon the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Kristersson will seek Türkiye's approval for his country's bid to join NATO during talks on Tuesday in Ankara with President Erdoğan, who has stalled the process and accused Sweden of harboring militants.
Ahead of his visit, Kristersson wrote on Facebook on Monday that “we will do significantly more in Sweden through new legislation that provides completely new opportunities to stop participation in terrorist organizations.”
Along with Finland, Sweden applied to join NATO in May in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Türkiye had objected over security concerns related to the banned PKK and other terrorist groups, and over the Nordic states' arms-export bans.
The three sides signed a memorandum in June that lifted Türkiye's veto and obligated Sweden and Finland to address its remaining concerns.
Erdoğan was set to host Kristersson at the Presidential Palace later in the day.
Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told Swedish Radio on Saturday his country's new government would distance itself from the PKK's Syrian branch, the YPG, in its bid to win Türkiye's support for its membership in the Western defense alliance.
Türkiye views the YPG as an extension of the PKK, which launched an insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984 and is designated as a terrorist group by Türkiye, the European Union and the United States.
Sweden, along with the United States and several other NATO countries, has supported the U.S.-backed YPG in the fight against Daesh. Türkiye has vowed to block Sweden's application if it doesn't stop.
The application has been approved by 28 of NATO's 30 countries. The Nordic countries said this week they were optimistic Hungary would also drop its objections.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg sought last week to strengthen the new applicants' hand by personally traveling to Ankara to argue their case.
"It's time to welcome Finland and Sweden as full members of NATO. Their accession will make our alliance stronger and our people safer," he said.
Stoltenberg stressed that Sweden and Finland had agreed in June to concessions, including addressing Türkiye's request for terror suspects to be deported or extradited.
"Finland and Sweden have delivered on their agreement to Türkiye," Stoltenberg said, adding that bringing them into the NATO fold was important "to send a clear message to Russia."
Erdoğan has welcomed the progress made in talks since Sweden's new right-wing government took office in October.
But he repeated on Friday – for the third time in a month – that Parliament would not formally approve the Nordic NATO bids until the two countries took the necessary steps.
In a column in Sweden's Aftonbladet newspaper on Monday, Turkish Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said Kristersson's visit is a historic opportunity for Sweden's NATO bid.
"We are cautiously optimistic that the Swedish government will take concrete steps regarding our terrorism concern," Altun wrote.
In a letter sent a month ago and seen by Reuters, Stockholm told Ankara it had taken "concrete action" to address Türkiye's concerns including stepping up counterterrorism efforts against PKK-linked militants.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said late Monday that the meetings in Ankara will be critical in terms of taking concrete steps.
"The Swedish government already says that it will take steps in this direction with all its statements. Both countries have taken some steps, but at this stage, it is difficult to say that they have fulfilled their commitments. We consider the meeting to be held tomorrow to be critical in determining the steps to be taken in the future," he said.
"The first meeting of the Permanent Joint Mechanism previously established to monitor the implementation of the Tripartite Memorandum was held in Helsinki. Now the Permanent Joint Mechanism will meet in Stockholm. The previous government did not dare to hold this meeting in Stockholm before the election, so it was in Finland. It will now be in Stockholm. At this meeting, the Memorandum of Understanding will be discussed again, and what has been done and what has not been done will be reviewed in a tripartite manner. The report will come from there. After that, there will be a re-evaluation."
The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli also said Tuesday that "the Swedish foreign minister's statement that Sweden will distance itself from the PKK/YPG is only a promise. A convincing result that meets Türkiye's demands has not been obtained or seen yet."
He also criticized Stoltenberg's remarks during his visit and said: "It is indecent in our opinion that the NATO Secretary-General dictates what kind of a decision the Turkish Parliament will take, and speaks as if giving instructions."
