Sweden’s prime minister says it cannot meet all of Turkey’s demands in the NATO bid
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kirstersson said on Sunday that Türkiye “made certain demands” that his country cannot accept in exchange for ending blocking its NATO membership.
“Turkey has confirmed that we have done what we said we would do, but it also says that it wants things that we cannot, that we do not want, to give it,” Ulf Kristersson said during a security conference he also attended. by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.
“We are confident that Turkey will make a decision, we just don’t know when,” he said, adding that it will depend on internal politics within Türkiye as well as “Sweden’s ability to show its seriousness.”
Breaking with decades of military non-alignment, Sweden and Finland applied to join the US-led defense alliance in response to Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine. But Türkiye has refused to accept their bid until the two countries take steps, including joining Türkiye’s fight against terrorism against the PKK.
Finland’s foreign minister said the country would join NATO at the same time as the neighboring country. “Finland is not in such a hurry to join NATO that we cannot wait until Sweden gets the green light,” Pekka Haavisto told reporters at Sunday’s conference.
In late December, Türkiye praised Sweden for responding to its security concerns but stressed that more was needed to win Ankara’s full support for Stockholm’s stalled NATO membership bid.