As defense ministers of NATO convened in Brussels on Thursday, Sweden’s access to the military alliance is among the hot topics amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Swedish, Finnish and NATO officials met in the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday to discuss the matter. The meeting, where Stockholm sought Ankara’s approval, was inconclusive and the NATO chief had no high hopes for a quick conclusion.
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on Thursday that Sweden’s inclusion into the alliance may not be possible before the much-anticipated bloc summit in Vilnius next month.
“I welcome the fact that we had the meeting of the permanent mechanism between Finland, Sweden and Türkiye, where also NATO participated in Ankara this week. This was a follow-up to my meeting with President (Recep Tayyip) Erdoğan a couple of weeks ago, where we had good discussions on how to make progress on Swedish accession into the alliance. And President Erdoğan and I agreed then to convene the meeting of the permanent mechanism that met this week. The meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere, with constructive talks, where they addressed progress and also identified how to continue to make progress and also agreed to continue to work on how to ensure that we are moving forward on a suite that is an accession of Sweden into the Alliance,” he said.
Stoltenberg stated that Sweden delivered on its commitments at a Madrid summit in 2022 “to remove restrictions on arms exports, to strengthen the cooperation with Türkiye in fighting terrorism.” Stoltenberg said Sweden amended its constitution and strengthened counterterrorism legislation. He said Sweden fulfilled its commitment but said they must realize that “Türkiye has some legitimate security concerns.” “No other NATO Ally has suffered more terrorist attacks,” he highlighted.
He said talks in Ankara focused on further strengthening cooperation in fighting terrorism.
“It is possible to get Sweden in by the Vilnius Summit. I cannot guarantee you that that will happen. But I’m still working hard to ensure the accession of Sweden as soon as possible,” he stated.
Türkiye and Sweden agreed to hold more discussions on Stockholm’s NATO membership, following the quadrilateral meeting in Ankara, according to a statement by the Presidency's Directorate of Communications.
The meeting over Sweden’s prospective membership in NATO ended on an ambiguous note for the Nordic country. Stockholm has long hoped that the meeting would be the final stage, ahead of the Vilnius summit, for progress on the membership, which needs the approval of Türkiye and Hungary.
The statement said that sides discussed Sweden’s steps to fulfill its commitments on a trilateral memorandum signed earlier. “The progress on commitments is assessed at the meeting and the participants agreed upon taking subsequent concrete steps,” the statement said.
Earlier Wednesday, Erdoğan said Sweden should not expect much from the upcoming NATO summit in July.
He said Türkiye cannot approve pro-PKK rallies in the Nordic country. “We cannot have a positive approach (to Sweden’s NATO accession) under the current circumstances. NATO cannot force us to admit Sweden without acting against terrorism. Unless you resolve this issue, we cannot merrily approve Sweden’s membership in Vilnius,” he said, referring to the upcoming NATO summit where Sweden hopes Türkiye will approve its membership bid.
Sabah newspaper reported on Thursday that Ankara rejected “timeframe pressure” for Sweden’s membership about its approval before the Vilnius summit during the talks on Wednesday. The newspaper said Ankara welcomed legislative amendments for counterterrorism but insisted on the display of resolution and sincerity in implementing counterterrorism legislation. The Turkish side also screened a four-minute video about the presence of terrorist groups in Sweden for the Swedish delegation.
