ANKARA (Reuters) – The agreement signed with Finland and Sweden to lift Turkey’s veto on their NATO membership bids is not the end of the matter and obliges the Nordic countries to keep their promises, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday, Reuters quoted .
After four hours of talks in Madrid on Tuesday, Erdogan and his Finnish and Swedish counterparts agreed on a series of security measures in return for support from Ankara, which has raised concerns about terrorism and an arms embargo.
Speaking to reporters on a flight back from the NATO summit in Madrid, Erdogan said there was no need to rush to ratify the two candidacies in parliament. Ankara must first check whether it lives up to promises made under the memorandum, including to extradite suspects wanted by Turkey, he said.
“This should be known: these signatures do not mean that the matter is closed… Without the approval of our parliament, it does not come into force. So there is no need to rush,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by NTV.
“Now the ball is in their court. Sweden and Finland are currently not members of NATO,” he added.
Asked about the extradition of suspects, Erdoğan said that if the Nordic countries do not send these individuals, “then we will do the necessary through our institutions and units.”
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
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