US-backed Sweden, Finland will soon join NATO despite Turkey’s holdout
Foreign Minister Antony Blinken expressed confidence in it on Thursday Sweden and Finland will soon join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), despite Turkey’s current hiatus.
“Both countries have taken significant concrete steps to meet their commitments, including those related to security concerns on the part of our ally Turkey,” Blinken said at a press conference at the State Department alongside his Swedish and Finnish counterparts.
“There can be no doubt on anyone’s part that they are ready to become formal members of the alliance today,” he added.
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Sweden and Finland abandoned decades of military non-alignment to seek NATO membership, driven by concerns that their countries could be next.
“We are well prepared and eager to join NATO and to contribute to the security of the entire alliance.” – Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs @TobiasBillström 🇺🇸🇸🇪🇫🇮 pic.twitter.com/JUYPeoV6IC
— Embassy of Sweden USA (@SwedeninUSA) December 8, 2022
Their requests to join the transatlantic alliance require the approval of all 30 member states, 28 of which have so far ratified the necessary protocols. Turkey and Hungary are the remaining stops, although Budapest has indicated that its parliament will soon ratify.
“Our hope is that this decision will come from Turkey sooner rather than later,” Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said on Thursday.
Turkey’s objections stem mainly from concerns that Sweden and Finland harbor “terrorists”, including Kurdish separatists who have waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey.
In June, the three countries reached an agreement aimed at addressing Ankara’s security concerns. The trilateral memorandum called, among other things, for Sweden and Finland to lift an arms embargo imposed on Turkey in the aftermath of its 2019 military campaign against US-backed Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.
Six months later, Turkish officials say that the Nordic countries have not yet fulfilled their obligations under the memorandum. The most difficult issue appears to be Turkey’s demand for the extradition of dozens of people with alleged links to groups including the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party and supporters of exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen.
Most of Ankara’s anger has been directed at Stockholm, which lifted its ban on exporting military equipment to Turkey in September and passed a constitutional amendment tightening its anti-terror laws last month.
Last week, Sweden deported a Kurdish man with alleged terror ties to Turkey, a move Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag called a “good start.” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also welcomed the move but said Ankara still needs to see the extraditions of suspected terrorists whose names they have given to Stockholm.
On Thursday, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said that Stockholm addresses Turkey’s concerns as described in the June agreement.
“But the fulfillment of a memorandum must take place within the framework of the constitution that we have in Sweden,” said Billström. “This is something the Turkish government is well aware of.”