Turkey: Sweden still has requirements to meet to join NATO
By SUZAN FRASER and KARL RITTER
Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s foreign minister says his country appreciates steps Sweden has taken to win its approval for NATO membership but still has commitments to fulfill. Mevlut Cavusoglu made the comments Thursday during a joint news conference with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström. Cavusoglu also said a Swedish court’s decision not to extradite a man wanted by Turkey for alleged links to a failed 2016 coup had “poisoned” a positive atmosphere in the negotiations. Turkey has held up Sweden and Finland’s request to join NATO while pressing the two Nordic countries to crack down on groups it considers to be terrorist organizations and to extradite people suspected of terror-related crimes.