Türkiye monitoring Sweden's compliance on deal for NATO bid: Erdogan

Ankara is monitoring Sweden's commitment to a deal they signed on the Nordic country's bid to join NATO, Türkiye's president has told the Swedish prime minister in a phone call.

The trilateral agreement Türkiye signed in June with Sweden and Finland will guide the process of those two countries' potential NATO accession, with Ankara following statements coming out of Stockholm, Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Ulf Kristersson on Wednesday, according to a statement by the Turkish Communications Directorate.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Ulf Kristersson that Ankara was monitoring statements coming out of Stockholm on Sweden's commitment to the agreement.

Erdogan said it was in both Türkiye and Sweden's common interest to prevent terror groups from taking the Nordic country's bid to enter NATO, as well as its bilateral ties with Türkiye, hostage.

After a phone call with the Turkish president, Sweden's new prime minister said his government would comply with a trilateral memorandum on its NATO accession.

Ulf Kristersson said on Twitter that his conversation with Recep Tayyip Erdogan was constructive and that he was looking forward to visiting Ankara soon.

"My gov will fulfil the trilateral memorandum between Türkiye, Finland, Sweden for #NATO accession," said Kristersson.

Advancing bilateral ties

They discussed Türkiye-Sweden relations during the call, with Erdogan congratulating Kristersson on his new role as premier.

In response to a letter from Kristersson on Oct. 19, Erdogan declared that he would welcome a visit to Türkiye by the new Swedish prime minister.

The Turkish leader said they were ready to advance bilateral ties with the Swedish government in every field.

Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO in June, a decision spurred by Russia's attack against Ukraine.

However, Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, voiced objections to the membership bids, criticising the two countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.

The three countries signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding at NATO's June summit in Madrid, which stipulates that Finland and Sweden will not provide support to the PKK/YPG – the PKK terrorist group's Syrian offshoot – or the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), the group behind the 2016 public-defeated coup in Türkiye.

READ MORE: 'Keep your promise to get into NATO' - Erdogan reminds Sweden, Finland