"Sweden is a breeding ground for terrorist organizations!"
You might have thought that of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria or Iraq.
But Sweden?
But the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said this sentence and he obviously wants to underline how serious he is about a possible veto against Sweden's NATO accession.
Just last week, Sweden and Finland applied to join the North Atlantic Alliance because the countries fear a Russian attack or at least think it makes sense to be part of an alliance that would also respond to Russian aggression together.
Turkey joined NATO in 1952 because the government at the time feared the aggressive expansionist policies of Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union at the time.
Apparently, neither of these facts is a reason for Erdoğan not to threaten to veto Sweden's NATO membership.
"There are also PKK cadres in European countries, including Sweden, and Erdoğan now wants to exploit this dispute over NATO expansion to say: You have to take even tougher action against the PKK than before," explains Maximilian Popp, deputy head of the SPIEGEL foreign department in the podcast.
“These are well-known topics that Erdoğan is just rehashing because he thinks: This whole NATO expansion is a good opportunity for that.
It's honestly a bit of an attempt at blackmail.
He wants his Yes to be paid dearly.
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In a phone call, Erdoğan also called on Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson to lift the arms embargo.
Sweden had imposed this along with other countries, including Germany, after Turkey began militarily attacking Kurdish areas in northern Syria and Iraq in 2019 and bought a Russian missile defense system.
"On the one hand, NATO member Turkey has also delivered weapons to Ukraine, i.e. these now famous drones, which really make a difference on the battlefield," says Maximilian Popp.
»On the other hand, Erdoğan has developed a considerable affinity with Vladimir Putin over the past few years and has also shied away from taking a really clear and vocal position in this conflict.
At times he behaves almost like a double agent.
And by blocking Sweden and Finland from joining NATO, he is giving Putin a huge gift, whether voluntarily or not.
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So what does Erdoğan want to achieve with his tough diplomacy?
Where is his course headed after Turkey first refused sanctions against Russia and then became involved as a mediator for peace talks?
And how do voters react to their president's agenda?
Listen to this episode here: