Turkey agreed to stop blocking Sweden’s NATO bid and will work to ensure the Nordic country’s accession in the near future, bolstering the defense alliance’s effort to put forth a united front in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
(Bloomberg) — Turkey agreed to stop blocking Sweden’s NATO bid and will work to ensure the Nordic country’s accession in the near future, bolstering the defense alliance’s effort to put forth a united front in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Turkey will ask its parliament to advance Sweden’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization “as soon as possible,” alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Monday following months of arduous negotiations over its demands. Bloomberg News reported the change in position earlier Monday.
The about-face comes at a crucial moment for NATO, which will hold a two-day summit starting Tuesday. The assembled leaders — including US President Joe Biden, still the alliance’s most powerful figure — are eager to use this week’s meeting to signal that the conflict in Ukraine has only strengthened NATO.
“Completing Sweden’s accession to NATO is a historic step that benefits the security of all NATO allies at this critical time,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Vilnius. “I will not give you the exact dates for that. But this is a clear commitment.”
The breakthrough came after Turkey received assurances on key demands, including Stockholm’s approach to supporters of Kurdish separatists operating in its territory, according to a Turkish official.
The countries agreed to continue work under a deal agreed last year in Madrid, including with a new bilateral security compact that meets annually at ministerial level. Sweden will present a roadmap outlining its work on its fight against terrorism at the first meeting of its compact, the statement said.
A Turkish official said there was also progress toward meeting their demands to lift defense-related sanctions and that EU officials agreed to speed up their membership negotiations, including on upgrading the customs union and on visa liberalization for its citizens.
Stoltenberg also said says he expects Hungary, the only other NATO member yet to approve Sweden’s bid, will follow suit as they “said they don’t want to be the last one not ratifying.”
Earlier Monday, Erdogan for the first time linked Sweden’s NATO membership bid to Ankara’s efforts to join the EU, which appeared to throw a wrench into the process.
Erdogan interrupted his talks with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to meet with European Council President Charles Michel, who following the meeting, said the bloc would submit a report on the EU’s relations with Turkey, ”with a view to proceed in strategic & forward-looking manner.”
The decision follows more than a year of stalling and contentious rhetoric, with Ankara repeatedly accusing Stockholm of failing to do enough to crack down on Kurdish groups it views as terrorists.
Turkey’s turnaround follows a flurry of diplomatic activity that has seen Kristersson visit Biden in Washington, and Swedish foreign minister Tobias Billstrom meet his Turkish counterpart at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Billstrom also met his Turkish counterpart at NATO headquarters in Brussels late last week.
It’s unclear to what extent Biden’s comments over the weekend that Turkey’s purchase of American F-16 fighter jets is “in play” contributed to Erdogan’s U-turn on Sweden, despite rebuffs by Ankara to link the two issues. Erdogan is set to meet Biden on Tuesday in Vilnius.
A bipartisan group of senators told Biden earlier this year that the Congress shouldn’t consider F-16 fighter jet sales to Turkey until the country ratifies Sweden’s membership. Erdogan and Biden have agreed to hold talks at the summit.
–With assistance from Andra Timu, Niclas Rolander and Kati Pohjanpalo.
(Updates with quotes from Stoltenberg, deal details starting in fourth paragraph)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.