A Swedish constitutional amendment on terrorism entered into force, the country’s embassy in Ankara announced on Monday as Stockholm aims to address the security concerns of Türkiye within the scope of its NATO bid.
“A constitutional amendment went into effect in Sweden. The constitutional amendment means that Sweden can fight terrorism with new and more comprehensive means,” the embassy said on Twitter.
The amendment went into effect on Jan. 1 and will enable greater possibilities to make use of legal means to limit freedom of association for groups that engage in or support terrorism.
According to a written statement by the Swedish justice ministry, the amendment allows legislators to introduce broader criminalization for participation in a terrorist organization and a prohibition against terrorist organizations.
“Sweden, unilaterally and together with other states, works intensively to counter the threat posed by terrorism. Terrorism puts a severe strain on affected communities and threatens both international peace and security and national security,” it said.
“Terrorism involves criminal activities of a very serious and system-threatening nature, and is one of the most serious threats to democracy, the free exercise of human rights and to economic and social development,” the ministry added.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu last month during a visit by Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström in the capital Ankara said that negotiations on Sweden’s bid to join NATO are still in the early stage as 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.
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 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.
