Sweden's PM refutes Turkey's terrorism claims

Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson has refuted Turkish claims of alleged support for Kurdish militant groups.

The claims come as Finnish and Swedish delegations began discussions with Turkey over its opposition to Sweden's NATO bid.

Speaking in Stockholm on Wednesday, Andersson said this would provide an opportunity to clear up what she said was "confusion" circulating about Swedish support for different groups.

"We are not sending money to terrorist organisations, of course, nor any weapons," Andersson said.

Turkey has opposed the applications of Sweden and neighbouring Finland over what it considers 'leniency' towards Kurdish Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

Turkey also wants 33 extradition requests, which include individuals suspected of having links to the 2016 attempted overthrow of Erdogan, to be expedited.

Stockholm and Helsinki submitted their bids to join NATO last week, reversing decades of military non-alignment, after political and public support for membership soared following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Picture: (l) Sanna Marin Prime Minister of Finland (r) Magdalena Andersson, Prime Minister of Sweden