by Andrew Gray and Ingrid Melander
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Turkey has told Sweden it intends to ratify its membership of the NATO military alliance within a few weeks, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Wednesday.
Sweden and Finland requested to join NATO following Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, launched in February 2022, marking a historic security shift. Finland became the 31st member of the Alliance last April, while Sweden’s candidacy remained blocked by Turkey and Hungary.
“I had a conversation with my colleague, the (Turkish) Minister of Foreign Affairs (…) who told me that he hoped that the ratification would take place in the coming weeks,” declared the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs. Foreign Affairs, Tobias Billstrom, during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.
Turkey had no immediate comment.
Ankara has asked Stockholm to take more measures to fight against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), declared illegal by Turkey, so that Sweden’s membership in NATO can be ratified.
Sweden, which passed an anti-terrorism law and lifted restrictions on arms exports to Turkey, says it has met all conditions to become a member of the military alliance.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a bill to the Turkish Parliament in October approving Sweden’s accession to NATO, a move welcomed by Stockholm for which it is one of the final obstacles to its entry into the military alliance.
Within NATO, some thought that Sweden’s membership was only a matter of time and that it would have been validated on the sidelines of the meeting in Brussels.
“The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs (Hakan Fidan, editor’s note) did not set a date but spoke of ‘a few weeks’. He thinks that the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership will take place in the coming weeks . That’s what he told me yesterday,” added Tobias Billstrom.
Hungary must also ratify Sweden’s membership.
“(Prime Minister) Viktor Orban reiterated that Hungary will not be the last to ratify Sweden’s membership,” Tobias Billstrom said.
“This means that it is more in the hands of Ankara than of Budapest,” he added, saying he hoped that a Hungarian approval would lead to a positive decision from Turkey.
(Benoit Van Overstraeten, Ingrid Melander and Andrew Gray; French version by Zhifan Liun edited by Blandine Hénault)
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