RTRS: Turkey Says Sweden, Finland Must Change Laws To Get NATO Access

Reuters reporting that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has claimed that in order for Ankara to approve their accession to NATO, Sweden and Finland must change their laws regarding terrorism and proscribed Kurdish groups.

• Cavusoglu stated that in meetings between officials at the weekend, "They [Sweden and Finland] put it this way: 'since we are far away from terror regions, our laws are designed that way'. Well, then you need to change them...They say it is allowed for the terrorist organisation to organise events and wave their rags around. Then you have to change your law."
• President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's comms dir. told a Finnish paper that "Eventually Finland's government must decide which is more important - to join NATO or protect these kinds of organisations,"
• The lengthy hold up in gaining Turkish approval is causing increasing consternation in Russia hawks such as the US and UK. The likelihood is that the two Nordics as well as the US will have to offer some form of concession to the Turkish gov't, whether on Kurdish groups in these nations or on US sanctions regarding Turkish purchases of US fighter jets. This will allow Erdogan to claim domestically that he has extracted notable concessions that protects Turkey, a useful claim just a year out from presidential elections.