ANKARA — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amped up the rhetoric against Stockholm on Monday with merely days left before the critical meeting between Turkish, NATO and Swedish officials over the Nordic nation’s bid to join the alliance.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan said his country would not back down until Stockholm meets Ankara’s demands for ratifying the accession. “The sooner our counterparts accept this fact, the healthier the process will be,” Erdogan said, adding, “From here we advise them to act rigorously and do their homework better.”
Alluding to news reports about a joint Swedish-American investigation over a graft complaint involving Erdogan’s younger son Bilal, the Turkish president said his country would not cave to “the politics of veiled threats” in an apparent jab at Sweden and the United States, without naming either country.
“We clearly see the aim of the dirty games that are being played through media outlets,” Erdogan said. “The whole world knows and should know that we will not surrender to threats, provocations or cunning through veiled threats. … It is obvious that those who think that they can get away with such low blows do not know us, Turkey and the Turkish nation."
