Sweden: NATO’s bid is in Turkey’s hands, but we cannot meet the demands
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson says that his country’s NATO bid is in Turkey’s hands. /Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson says that his country’s NATO bid is in Turkey’s hands. /Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
Sweden has warned that it cannot meet demands from Turkey that will unblock its application to join NATO.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the decision to approve his country’s bid to join the bloc now rests in Ankara’s hands.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has used its vote as a NATO member to delay applications from both Sweden and Finland to join the alliance.
The Nordic nations abandoned their long history of military non-alignment through applying to join NATO in May 2022. The policy reversal came after Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine began in February, sparking widespread security fears in the Nordics and Baltics.
READ MORE
Why Turkey blocked Sweden and Finland’s NATO bid
The Secret Betrayal: China’s World War II Sailors
Despite threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin about potential negative consequences, Finland and Sweden launched their formal bid to join NATO at the bloc’s summit in Madrid in June.
But the application has been opposed by Türkiye from the beginning. Ankara has accused the two Nordic states of harboring groups it accuses of terrorism.
It is seeking the extradition of 33 individuals it claims have links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Gulenist “Cemaat” movement, an Islamic sect that Turkey’s AKP holds responsible for the failed 2016 military coup.
Three-way agreement
At the end of June 2022, Finland and Sweden signed a three-way agreement with Türkiye aimed at overcoming Ankara’s objections to their membership. The concessions included the lifting of an arms export embargo, which was imposed after Turkey’s 2019 military offensive in northern Syria, and new assurances about anti-terror measures at home.
However, both Sweden and Finland have emphasized that extradition attempts for their citizens must be subject to legal process.
In December, the Supreme Court in Stockholm blocked a bid to return the former editor of Türkiy’s The times newspaper. The court said the charges against Bülent Keneş did not constitute crimes in Sweden which, together with his refugee status, made extradition impossible.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu described the court decision as a “very negative development”.
And now, when he spoke at a defense conference in Sweden, Prime Minister Kristersson said that the matter has now reached an impasse.
“Türkiye 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,” he said, adding “We are convinced that Türkiye will make a decision, we just don’t know when.”
At the same time, Finland has indicated that it is awaiting a result in Sweden’s bid before proceeding.
“Finland is not in such a hurry to join NATO that we cannot wait until Sweden gets the green light,” Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told reporters in Helsinki.
There has been no response from Türkiye, amid signs that the date of planned parliamentary and presidential elections may now be pushed forward to April or May.