Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sweden could no longer count on his country’s support for NATO membership
The Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Christerson appeared today optimistic about his country joining NATO in the summer, despite the ongoing dispute with Turkey.
“There is a possibility, unquestionably,” Kristersson told Swedish news agency TT, according to a report today. While he didn’t put a timetable on that, he said he hopes it will “happen as soon as possible.”
Earlier this week, the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sweden can no longer count on his country’s support for joining the Alliance, after a far-right extremist burned a Koran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
However, Turkey has never explicitly said that the door is completely closed to Sweden, Kristersson told TT. This was also the impression given by the rounds of talks with Turkey since last summer, he said.
“We can have different opinions about where we are in the process, but there is no doubt about the final goal of the process,” the prime minister stressed.
Christerson also pointed to the pressure that will be put on Turkey by the vast majority of NATO countries. “But it is Turkey that makes the Turkish decision and no one else.”
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year. So far 28 of the Alliance’s 30 countries have approved the two Nordic countries’ applications, with Hungary and Turkey yet to ratify them.
“This would be very bad for Sweden’s security if it takes longer than absolutely necessary,” the Swedish prime minister said. He added that now the issue is to de-escalate the “tense situation” and that he is “ready to talk to Erdogan at any time”.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, however, struck a pessimistic tone earlier today.
Trilateral meetings with Sweden and Finland “will not make any sense in this climate,” the Turkish foreign minister told reporters in Ankara.
Sweden must take concrete steps, Cavusoglu added, without specifying when the talks would resume.
Turkey accuses the two Nordic countries of supporting groups that Ankara considers terrorist and is seeking to extradite some suspects, among other demands.
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