Earlier, the president had tried to condition approval on Turkey’s incorporation into the European Union. Secretary General of the military alliance says the leader has committed to “rapid” progress of the process.
(DW) After Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented on Monday (10/07) a new and unexpected condition for Sweden’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Secretary General of the military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, declared that Turkey agreed to proceed with the request “as soon as possible”.
“President Erdogan has agreed to send Sweden’s accession protocol to Turkey’s parliament as soon as possible and work for its approval,” Stoltenberg told reporters in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius after meeting Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
Earlier in the day, speaking to reporters shortly before boarding a plane for the NATO summit in Vilnius to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, Erdogan had conditioned his green light to Sweden on the resumption of Turkey’s admission process to the European Union.
“Almost all NATO members are EU members. I now address those countries that have kept Turkey waiting for more than 50 years,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul. “Pave the way for Turkey’s accession to the European Union. We will pave the way for Sweden, just as we did for Finland, when you pave the way for Turkey.”
Turkey is a candidate for EU membership in a process formally started in 1999, but negotiations have been on ice since 2016 due mainly to disputes with one bloc country, Cyprus, and democratic setbacks during Erdogan’s presidency. For these reasons, an enlargement of the European Union in Ankara’s favor is seen as unlikely. Turkey, however, is seen as crucial to managing the migration crisis – the country at the intersection of the Middle East and Europe has received 3.6 million Syrian refugees.
Erdogan’s statement sparked uncertainty
It was the first time Erdogan linked his country’s ambition to join the European bloc with Sweden’s efforts to become a member of NATO.
The Swedes are candidates for the 32nd seat in the military alliance but have been blocked by Turkey on various pretexts.
Something similar happened during Finland’s NATO accession process, which concluded in April. Previously militarily neutral, the two Nordic countries applied for NATO membership last year after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Sweden argues that it has fulfilled its part of the deal by meeting Ankara’s demands, which included lifting embargoes on arms supplies to Turkey, tougher anti-terrorism laws and measures against the PKK, the Kurdish labor party, which has led uprisings in Turkey since the 1980s.
A series of anti-Turkey and anti-Islam protests in Sweden’s capital even cast additional uncertainty over the process.
In addition to Turkey, another country with an authoritarian bias, Hungary, has yet to authorize Sweden’s membership in NATO.
Summit discusses support for Ukraine, and country pushes for NATO entry
Meeting until Wednesday, leaders of NATO member countries want to demonstrate the alliance’s internal cohesion on military support for Ukraine. Kiev, for its part, wants to use the meeting to press for its entry into the alliance – Germany is opposed. Sources inside the German government say there is no clear consensus on the issue among the alliance’s member countries.
While eastern European countries are pressing for clear commitments to Ukraine on this, the United States and Germany have resisted offering more than a vague hope of membership at an undefined future time in the event of a Ukrainian victory.
Invited to the meeting in Vilnius, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski conditioned his participation on an open discussion of the country’s NATO membership.
Ukraine may have similar support for Isreael
NATO has waved Ukraine through with a decision to simplify the application process. Kiev will not need to submit an “action plan” to reform the military sector, a requirement that other members have had to fulfill.
On Twitter, Ukraine’s foreign minister welcomed the move and said the concession – which Russia warned would have serious consequences for Europe’s security – would shorten Kiev’s path to NATO entry.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also announced a military cooperation program between Ukraine and the alliance, as well as the creation of a new NATO-Ukraine council.
Countries like the US, Germany and the UK also want new security guarantees. According to President Biden, once the war is over, the US would be willing to offer Ukraine protection similar to that it gives Israel – a country to which it transfers $3.8 million every year, a significant portion of which goes to military spending.
Germany is also expected to confirm the shipment of new weapons to Ukraine in “very substantial” volume, according to government sources.
ra (AFP, AP, dpa) *** Translated by the DEFCONPress FYI Team ***