Turkey Renews Threat to Veto Sweden and Finland's NATO Bids (again, and more serious)

[Celerity]

Turkey is threatening to veto NATO membership for Sweden and Finland even as the military alliance formally paved the way for the two Nordic countries to join.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-05/turkey-threatens-to-veto-sweden-and-finland-s-nato-bids

Turkey will not ratify membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for the applicants if they don’t fufill their promises to combat terrorism and extradite suspects under a memorandum of understanding reached at an alliance summit in Madrid last week, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Monday. “They have to comply with this document, if they don’t then we won’t allow them to join NATO,” Cavusoglu told NTV television.

All 30 allies signed accession protocols for Sweden and Finland at a ceremony in Brussels on Tuesday, making the countries formal invitees and allowing them access to almost all NATO meetings. The protocol then has to be ratified by allies’ parliaments before the countries become members. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters that he is counting on all allies to ensure a speedy ratification, and expects the process to take “months.”

Despite the Madrid agreement, Turkey’s lingering threat could still complicate the membership process. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing presidential and parliamentary elections within less than a year. Being seen as adopting a tough stance could consolidate support in nationalist circles. Erdogan said last week that the Turkish parliament will not ratify Sweden and Finland’s applications if they don’t keep their written promises on Turkey’s security concerns, adding that Sweden had recently pledged to extradite dozens of people Turkey views as terrorists, and hand them over to Turkish authorities for prosecution.

Promise

“Sweden promised us that it will give us those 73 people,” Erdogan said. “We will now follow it up and we will make our decision accordingly.” Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde told reporters in Brussels that “there is no mention of any list or any numbers in the memorandum.” She added that “during negotiations in Madrid there was also no mention of any number or any specific lists.”

snip



my thoughts

“Sweden promised us that it will give us those 73 people,” Erdogan said.

bullshit

that is a flat-out lie

many of those on the list are Swedish and Finnish citizens, many have already been denied to Turkey by our (Sweden) courts, plus some on the list are not even Turkish citizens



Who are 'terrorists' Turkey wants from Sweden and Finland?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62027828

Nato has formally launched the process to bring Sweden and Finland into its military alliance. But a key condition for Nato member Turkey is the handover of more than 70 people described by its president as terrorists. The leaders of the two Nordic nations say they are taking the issue seriously, but ultimately extradition is up to the courts not politicians. So who does Turkey want and could they ever be deported to Ankara?

Turkey's demands

Sweden and Finland applied to join the West's defensive alliance after Russia launched its war in Ukraine. Turkey was the only one of Nato's 30 member states to block their bids until the two Nordic states agreed to a set of demands - including handing over individuals with alleged terror links.

Under a memorandum signed at a Nato summit last week, Finland and Sweden agreed to address Turkey's "pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects expeditiously and thoroughly", with "bilateral legal frameworks to facilitate extradition".

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sweden had promised to extradite 73 "terrorists" and had already sent three or four of them. Pro-government Turkish daily Hurriyet published a list of 45 people, including 33 sought from Sweden and 12 from Finland.

snip

[Mike Nelson]

1. Huh?

... I thought this issue was resolved! Maybe it's time Turkey left NATO... they can become a Socialist Republic.

[LeftInTX]

2. Turkey should leave NATO, but I don't think Socialism is in their future

Are you thinking of Nazi?

[Mike Nelson]

6. I was...

... thinking of the old USSR alliance. Without NATO, they would be subject to Russian influence.

[Celerity]

3. No, it has been boiling here for the past several days, all in the middle of Almedalen Week, by far

the most important annual political event in Sweden, so it has been a madhouse.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almedalen_Week

The Almedalen Week (Almedalsveckan, also known as Politician's Week in Almedalen, Politikerveckan i Almedalen) is an annual event taking place in week 26 in and around Almedalen, a park in the city of Visby on the Swedish island Gotland.

With speeches, seminars and other political activities, it is considered to be the most important forum in Swedish politics. During the week, representatives from the major political parties in Sweden take turns to make speeches in Almedalen.

It has inspired similar events to be held in other countries, like Suomi-Areena in Finland, Arendalsuka in Norway, Arvamusfestival in Estonia and Folkemødet at the island of Bornholm in Denmark.

[Mike Nelson]

7. Hmm...

... a lot of my Swedish relatives are posting vacation pictures on FB. Maybe they are related to this week... my heritage is the south of Sweden, mostly Blekinge country.

[Celerity]

9. it takes place on Gotland

https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/folj-almedalsveckan








from today

I do not like either KD (Christian Democrats, solid RW) or C (Centrepartiet, centre right (centre right in Sweden, they would be considered, in some aspects, center to centre left in the US)

Christian Democrat leader seeks to lure Centre voters at Almedalen

Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch positioned herself of the defender of the middle-class right to "villa, Volvo, vovve" (a house, a Volvo and a dog), in a speech aimed squarely at voters of the Centre Party.

https://www.thelocal.se/20220705/christian-democrat-leader-seeks-to-lure-centre-voters-in-speech/



The Christian Democrats are seeking to lure voters for the Centre Party in the the Swedish countryside and beyond, who are uncomfortable with its move to the left-side of Swedish politics, and its neglect of the rural issues it championed when it was Sweden’s farmer’s party.

“A vote for the Centre Party is in practical terms a vote for the Green Party,” Busch said in her speech at the Almedalen political festival in Gotland. “A vote for Annie Lööf is a vote to give Stenevi and Bolund influence over hunting, forestry, wolves, agriculture and the price of fuel. We Christian Democrats want to offer everyone who previously voted for the Centre Party a new home.” She said that the Center Party had “swapped tractors for electric scooters”, and become a party of urbanites. “If you voted for the Centre Party before, vote this year for the Christian Democrats. We’re the party fighting for your right to live the typical Svensson-life outside the city centre.”

The Svensson-life was the theme running through the speech, with Busch arguing that it had got harder and harder for ordinary Swedes to provide this basics of a middle class life for themselves, a situation for which she laid the blame squarely on the Social Democrats. While Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson described the rising prices of goods as Putinpriser, or “Putin prices”, putting the blame on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Busch instead called them Magdapriser, putting the blame on Andersson herself.

“We’ve ended up with Magda prices for electricity, petrol, food, and now interest rates. It’s estimated that an average two-child family will see their costs rise by 50,000 kronor this year and next year,” she said. The solution, she argued, was to vote in Ulf Kristersson, the Moderate Party’s leader, as prime minister. “There is an alternative, with Ulf Kristersson as Prime Minister, which is agreed on the solutions on all the difficult questions. That’s why I want to also appeal to those of you who usually vote for the Social Democrats. In this election, lend your vote to the right-wing parties.”

You can read the speech here in Swedish or in English (Google Translated) here.

[Mike Nelson]

10. Thank you...

... for the info. Most of my relatives do not post political views. One is a Trump fan, however, and he posts political stuff on FB and Twitter. I ignore his political posts. Mainly, he does not like immigrants - especially Muslims. He posts stories of rape and crime, with immigrants involved. One of my ancestorial names in Svensson - so I guess they led the "Svensson life"

[Celerity]

11. a 'Svensson' is roughly the same as 'the average Joe'

there was this old telly show

Svensson, Svensson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svensson,_Svensson

Svensson, Svensson is a Swedish sitcom. It has also been made into a feature film and a play.

Two seasons consisting of 12 episodes each were broadcast in the autumn of 1994 and the autumn of 1996. They have since been repeated numerous times. The series was revived for a third season in 2007, and a fourth in 2008.

Svensson, Svensson is one of the most successful sitcoms in Swedish television history. During the second season, each episode gathered more than 2.5 million viewers, in a country which at the time had a population of around 8.8 million people. The most watched episode was broadcast on 17 November 1996 and gathered 3,395,000 viewers.

The series centres on the Svensson family who lives in the Vivalla area of Örebro. The family consists of the father Gustav (Allan Svensson) who works as mailman, the mother Lena (Suzanne Reuter) who works at a bank, their teenage daughter Lina (Chelsie Bell Dickson) and their son Max (Gabriel Odenhammar). For the revival, Gustav has had to retire from his work at the post office, while Lena works for the local government. Max now works at the bank and Lina (now played by Claudia Galli) has married the conductor John (Felix Engström) who brought his daughter Greta (Embla Hjulström) into the family.

The Svensson surname is one of the most common names in Sweden. It is often used to represent something average, which is illustrated by the word medelsvensson, used about the "average Swede". Svensson corresponds to Smith in Anglo-Saxon countries.

[Mike Nelson]

12. I knew...

... the meaning of the term, but never saw the TV show. It reminds me of my relatives speaking! I had two grandparents siblings marry Svenssons. One should have been named Svensdotter. My grandparents explained names' origins, which makes sense until it doesn't!

[maxrandb]

4. Ok, like trading Sweden and Finland for Turkey

Is a hard decision

[Celerity]

5. sea access to the Black Sea's HUGE (Turkey 100% controls it via the the Dardanelles & the Bosphorus)

[Better Days Ahoy]

8. F this wannabe

First World country.