Stoltenberg meets Erdogan
Sweden has met Turkish conditions, according to NATO chief
6/4/2023 7:29 p.m
Sweden has been waiting 13 months to join NATO. So far, Turkey has prevented this, citing security concerns. The NATO Secretary General believes that these have now been cleared up.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg considers the conditions made by Turkey to Sweden for the country’s NATO membership to be fulfilled. “Sweden has taken significant concrete steps to address Turkey’s concerns,” Stoltenberg said in Istanbul after a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “Sweden has fulfilled its commitments,” he stressed. Stoltenberg described the meeting with Erdogan as “productive”. On June 12 there should be further talks with Turkey and Sweden.
The NATO Secretary General appealed to Ankara to give up its 13-month blockade of Sweden’s admission to NATO. Turkey had justified its resistance by saying that Sweden was a safe haven for “terrorists”, especially members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Sweden recently tightened its anti-terror regulations with a new law.
Yesterday, Saturday, Stoltenberg took part in the celebrations in Ankara to swear in the re-elected President Erdogan. Even before his trip to Turkey, he had announced that he wanted Sweden to join the military alliance “as soon as possible”.
Like Finland, Sweden had applied for NATO membership in response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Both countries thus broke with a long tradition of extensive military neutrality. Finland was welcomed as the 31st member at the beginning of April, while Sweden still lacks approval from Turkey and Hungary.