Sweden is making a last-ditch push to convince Turkey that the Nordic nation should be allowed to join NATO, seeking to end a year-long stalemate that’s stunted the alliance’s northern expansion.
(Bloomberg) — Sweden is making a last-ditch push to convince Turkey that the Nordic nation should be allowed to join NATO, seeking to end a year-long stalemate that’s stunted the alliance’s northern expansion.
On the home stretch before a key meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius next week, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Wednesday got a show of support from US President Joe Biden. On Thursday, Sweden will seek to placate Turkey at NATO’s Brussels headquarters, hosted by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, just as a key court ruling in Stockholm may boost the mood for those talks.
“The United States fully, fully, fully supports Sweden’s membership in NATO,” Biden said, reiterating a long-held stance. “And the bottom line is simple: Sweden is going to make our alliance stronger and has the same value set that we have in NATO. And we’re anxiously looking forward to your membership.”
Bolstered by support from the alliance’s biggest member, Sweden is looking to persuade Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to drop his objections at next week’s summit and declare his intent to ratify the Nordic country’s accession.
The diplomatic push on Thursday will see Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom meet with two new counterparts: Turkey’s Hakan Fidan and Finland’s Elina Valtonen, both of whom took their positions in June following elections in their countries.
While Turkey has said it plans to take stock of the situation after Thursday’s talks, comments by Erdogan suggest there’s little chance of a significant breakthrough amid a disagreement over the burning of a Koran in Stockholm. Turkey’s opposition stems from its view that Sweden isn’t doing enough to clamp down on groups Ankara views as terrorist.
Sweden, meanwhile, has lifted a ban on arms sales to Turkey and amended its anti-terrorism laws as part of a deal clinched last year to break the impasse. In Sweden’s view, the new legal measures satisfy its last remaining obligation under an agreement signed at NATO’s Madrid summit to pave the way for ratification.
What’s more, a court ruling is expected Thursday in a case against a supporter of the PKK — a group that’s outlawed in Turkey — on trial for attempted extortion, an aggravated arms offense and trying to raise funds for a terrorist group. The prosecutor in the case has asked for the man to be extradited to Turkey after serving his sentence. It’s possible Swedish negotiators could seek to use the ruling to demonstrate to their Turkish counterparts they’re cracking down on terror.
Fellow applicant Finland won Turkey’s approval three months ago and joined the alliance in April.
Turkey wants Sweden to join NATO, officials who are directly familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, reiterating Ankara’s insistence that the Nordic country must uphold pledges to crack down on terrorism. They also rebuffed any suggestion that Turkey’s request to buy F-16 warplanes from the US could be linked to its approval of the Nordic nation’s membership in NATO.
Kristersson on Wednesday rejected throwing in the towel, saying “nothing has been determined, in either direction.”
“We are approaching the Vilnius summit and I feel strengthened by the fact that all allies feel that this is a natural point in time to make the necessary decisions,” he told reporters in Washington following his meeting with Biden. “But we won’t make Turkey’s decision — we respect that only Turkey can do that.”
Another key issue for NATO members at the Vilnius summit is signing off on three regional defense plans for the first time since the end of the Cold War. The plans spell out in detail how countries will defend the alliance if it comes under attack by Russia or terror groups and cover the Atlantic and High North, Europe North of the Alps as well as South of the Alps, including in the Black Sea region.
But that hasn’t gone without a hitch. Turkey and Greece have been in a dispute over the terminology of straits in the Mediterranean region, which has so far prevented the alliance from clearing the blueprints at committee level ahead of the leaders’ summit, according to a senior US defense official. Still, allies are hopeful the issue will get resolved by the summit, the official said, adding that Turkey moved ahead along with other allies to assign troops to the plans at a recent pledging conference.
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