According to NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has agreed to back Sweden’s application for membership.
According to Stoltenberg, the Turkish president would present Sweden’s request to the Ankara parliament and see to its ratification. Sweden’s appeal had previously been denied when it was charged with harboring extremist Kurds.
Sweden’s membership in NATO
Turkey has a veto over any new member joining Nato as one of its 31 members. President of the United States Joe Biden expressed his appreciation for President Erdogan’s promise to move forward with “swift ratification” and his willingness to cooperate with Turkey on boosting defense and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic region.
Several months after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and its eastern neighbor Finland declared their determination to join Nato in May of last year. In April, Finland officially joined.
- Turkish president to present Sweden’s request to Ankara parliament for ratification.
- Sweden, Finland join Nato after Russia invades Ukraine.
- Sweden’s membership request was approved by Turkey and Hungary.
According to Stoltenberg, Sweden, and Turkey have resolved “Turkey’s legitimate security concerns,” as a result of which Sweden has revised its legislation, strengthened its counterterrorism operation against the PKK, and restarted exporting weaponry to Turkey.
The only two Nato countries that have not yet approved Sweden’s membership request are Turkey and Hungary. Hungary won’t be the last country to ratify, according to Stoltenberg, and the opposition from Budapest will be overcome.
Turkey initially applied to join the EU in 1987, but the process was put on hold due to President Erdogan’s rise to power. However, Erdogan has taken on a special position as a Nato leader with clout in Moscow especially since Russia invaded Ukraine.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, which permits Ukraine to export agricultural goods from its ports, was facilitated in part by him last year. By providing weaponized drones to Ukraine, Turkey has also infuriated the Kremlin.
On the agenda for the two-day Nato summit that begins in Vilnius on Tuesday will be Ukraine’s application for membership. Due to concerns that this would result in a confrontation with a nuclear-armed Russia, all alliance members concur that Ukraine cannot join the group while the war is still going on.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has stated that he does not anticipate membership until after the war, but he still wants the summit to send a “clear signal” regarding Ukraine’s application.
