The Türkiye-Sweden Security Mechanism will meet on Tuesday in the capital Ankara with the participation of both countries’ foreign ministers and a focus on fighting terrorism.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard and Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer will participate in the meeting, according to diplomatic sources.
Fidan will convey to Sweden Türkiye’s expectation on further steps against the PKK/YPG and the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and ending the financing and propaganda activities of the organizations.
Türkiye will also convey its concern on rising far-right, racism and anti-Islam sentiment in Europe and ask for increased struggle against these movements.
Turkish officials have long criticized their Western counterparts for remaining indifferent and fueling far-right ideologies, especially in countries like the United Kingdom, France and Germany hosting sizable Muslim populations. Most experts attribute the persistence of anti-Muslim racism to “declining liberal democracy” and governments “investing less in the fight against Islamophobia” and even “normalizing” the rhetoric.
Moreover, Fidan will express that Ankara is looking for a new period of cooperation after limitations on its defense industry were lifted.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) the two sides inked at a NATO summit in Madrid along with Finland stipulates that the two countries take concrete steps to address concerns, increase their crackdown on terrorist organizations and deport people suspected of terrorism-related crimes.
Türkiye delayed Sweden’s NATO membership ratification for more than a year due to Stockholm’s support to terrorist groups like the PKK, which has massacred over 40,000 civilians in a bloody four-decade campaign against the Turkish state and FETÖ, which orchestrated a bloody coup attempt in 2016.
Sweden responded by tightening its counterterrorism legislation and taking other security steps.