ANKARA, January 21 – Novosti. Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that the visit of his Swedish counterpart, scheduled for January 27, was cancelled.
It was assumed that the head of the Swedish Ministry of Defense will discuss in Ankara the application of Stockholm for membership in NATO , which Turkey has not yet ratified.
“At the stage we have reached, the importance and meaning of the visit of Swedish Defense Minister Jonsson to Turkey on January 27 is no more. Therefore, we canceled the visit,” Haberturk TV channel quoted Akar as saying.
Last week, Ankara canceled the visit of Andreas Norlen, Speaker of the Swedish Parliament. This happened after supporters of the PKK, banned in Turkey, held a rally in Stockholm at which they shouted insults at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ankara’s chief prosecutor’s office opened a criminal case on this matter.
Ankara is demanding that Stockholm and Helsinki stop supporting the PKK and extradite activists who are considered in Turkey to be involved in terrorism. The Turkish authorities have repeatedly stated that without the fulfillment of these promises, there will be no progress in the admission of the northern countries to NATO.
