The measure, which reverses the ban in force since 2019, is a consequence of the agreement on the sidelines of the NATO summit held last June in Madrid.
Sweden announced on Friday that it will resume arms exports to Turkey, which had threatened to block the Scandinavian nation’s application to join the NATO military alliance, the Inspectorate for Strategic Products (ISP) reported.
The decision was made after “an overall assessment”, “taking into account the change in circumstances of defense and security policy“, detailed the agency in a press release quoted by local media.
The ISP began granting export permits during the third quarter of this year, but did not reveal the companies or products that had received the go-ahead, citing confidentiality reasons.
Sweden and Finland applied to join the Atlantic Alliance in May 2022, but they faced a hurdle as their application needs the approval of all 30 current members.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had threatened to block their candidacies after accusing them of supporting the People’s Protection Units (YPG, for its acronym in Kurdish) and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), organizations that Ankara considers terrorists.
The measure, which reverses the ban in force since 2019, after the Turkish incursion against the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria, is a consequence of the agreement between Turkey, Sweden and Finland on the sidelines of the NATO summit held last June in Madrid. One of the points in the memorandum states that there should be no arms embargo between these three countries.
Source: RT
