Ankara, January 31 (QNA) - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday that it is possible for Ankara to sit down with Sweden and discuss accession to NATO if it fulfills its obligations.
Cavusoglu said in a press conference he held with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto on an official visit to Budapest, that it is not possible for Turkey, under the current circumstances, to agree to Sweden's accession to NATO.
He added that Turkey supports the idea of NATO expansion, and that Ankara is one of the five countries most contributing to NATO activities.
Turkey understands the security concerns of Sweden and Finland, but on the other hand, these two countries must understand Turkey's security concerns as well, as there is a large presence of the terrorist organizations Fulen and "PKK/YPG" in Sweden, he continued.
He also noted that Sweden and Finland pledged to prevent the activities of "terrorist organizations" on their soil in the tripartite memorandum concluded on the sidelines of the NATO leaders' summit in Madrid last summer.
Cavusoglu pointed out that Finland is more keen than Sweden to implement the terms of the memorandum, explaining in this context that Ankara clearly notes the current Swedish government's strong will to implement the memorandum than the previous government.
Regarding the burning of copies of the Holy Qur'an in Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark, Cavusoglu said that such actions are considered crimes against humanity, rather than a freedom of thought and action.
Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands have recently witnessed the burning of copies of the Holy Qur'an by far-right personalities, led by the leader of the Danish extremist Hard Line party, Rasmus Paludan.
(QNA)