According to Sweden’s prime minister on Sunday, Turkey, which has been delaying Sweden and Finland’s attempts to join NATO for months, has made several conditions that Sweden cannot meet.
Ulf Kristersson remarked at a security conference where NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was also present, “Turkey has confirmed that we have done what we said we would do, but it also says that it wants things that we can’t, that we don’t want to, offer them.”
It will depend on internal politics in Turkey as well as “Sweden’s capacity to prove its seriousness,” he continued, adding that while we are confident that Turkey will make a choice, we just don’t know when.
In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Sweden and Finland broke with decades of military non-alignment and applied to join the US-led defence alliance.
Turkey, however, has resisted approving their application until the two nations take action, including by aiding Turkey in its war against outlawed Kurdish insurgents.
Due to its stronger ties to the Kurdish diaspora, Sweden has been the focus of the majority of Turkey’s requests.
According to Finland’s foreign minister, the nation will enlist in NATO at the same time as its neighbour.
Pekka Haavisto told reporters at the conference on Sunday, “Finland is not in such a rush to join NATO that we can’t wait till Sweden receives the green light.”
Turkey complimented Sweden for reacting to its security concerns at the end of December but emphasised that more was required to secure Ankara’s full support for Stockholm’s stalled NATO membership application.
