Swedish premier says Türkiye sole decision-maker on its NATO bid

MADRID

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Monday said that Türkiye is the sole decision-maker on the Nordic country's NATO bid.

Kristersson's remarks came at a joint press conference held after his meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at Moncloa in Madrid.

Responding to Anadolu's question on whether Sweden can guarantee the prevention of PKK terror propaganda in the country, he said that Sweden has fulfilled "all the conditions of the agreement" it made with Türkiye.

Noting that they did what they had to do, he said: "Türkiye is the only one who has to make a decision about joining NATO from now on, not us."

He said that Sweden is fully aware of the problems that Türkiye faced due to terrorism and fully recognizes the terrorist attacks that the country faced, even outside of Sweden.

"On the other hand, of course, no government can guarantee that a terrorist attack will not happen again in its country," he said. "But we are making legal changes to punish those who commit such attacks."

For his part, Sanchez reiterated his country's support for Sweden's NATO accession process, saying that it would make NATO "stronger and better prepared for possible attacks."