President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated his criticism of Sweden and Finland's support for terrorists as he stated that neither of the two countries has responded to Turkey's demands, adding that NATO is a security bloc, not an alliance to provide support to terrorist groups.
Speaking at the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) parliamentary group meeting in Parliament on Wednesday, Erdoğan said countries like Sweden and Finland try to manipulate perceptions by changing the spelling of the PKK and rebranding the terrorists as the PYD/YPG, underlining that these countries are only fooling themselves.
He also criticized Sweden for airing an interview with Salih Muslim, the leader of a Syrian offshoot of the PKK, on the day Swedish and Finnish delegations came to Ankara to discuss their NATO membership.
"How can Turkey approve of Swedish, and Finnish NATO bids, given that terror affiliates freely roam, hold rallies there?" the president said, adding that both countries have yet to provide a concrete response to Turkey's expectations.
