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Turkish people no longer trust European promises: Altun

Türkiye’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun talks about wide-ranging issues, including Nordic states bid for NATO membership, in an interview to a Swedish newspaper.

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"We have to be sure that Sweden upholds the values of the alliance and the security of its prospective allies," Altun says.

Turkish people no longer trust European promises after their failures to uphold their commitments over Ankara's EU membership bid, Cyprus issue, fight against terrorism, irregular migration and many more, Türkiye’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun has said.

"These promises were not kept. For this reason, we are no longer waiting for words, but for action,” Altun underlined in an interview with Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet on Wednesday.

He stressed the fact that Türkiye has long been disturbed by the presence of PKK and FETO terror outfits in Sweden.

"The green light for Sweden's entry into NATO means that we are committed to protecting the Swedish people in case of an attack under Article 5. If we are going to take such a responsibility for Sweden, we need to be firmly convinced that Turkish citizens are not attacked with the money collected in Sweden," he added.

He also emphasised that Türkiye needs to make sure that Swedish weapons will not come out of the terrorist shelters in Iraq or Syria.

“Bizim açımızdan soru işareti, İsveç’in NATO üyeliğinin terörle mücadeleye zarar verip vermeyeceğidir. İsveç’in ittifakın değerlerini koruyacağına emin olmak zorundayız.”

İsveç’in @SvD gazetesine Türkiye’nin haklı tezlerini aktardık.https://t.co/AgtrtDyLin
— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) June 22, 2022

'Our priority is to protect our citizens'

Following Sweden's application for NATO membership it became evident that how powerful the PKK terrorist organisation is in Sweden, and how its members blackmail the Swedish government.

The question for us is whether Sweden's NATO membership will harm the fight against terrorism, Altun added.

"We have to be sure that Sweden upholds the values of the alliance and the security of its prospective allies."

"Our priority is to protect our citizens as we've told that to Swedish officials since the beginning," Altun emphasised in the interview.

Sweden's Anti-Terror Law will be tightened on July 1 and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde strongly condemned of terrorism in recent days.

The Swedish government had not even acknowledged that there was a problem a few months ago, Altun said, but added that the recognition of the problem by their side is of course a positive development.

SOURCE: TRT World