Swedish PM on Stalled NATO Bid: Turkey Wants Things Stockholm ‘Cannot Give’
05:41 GMT 09.01.2023 (Updated: 05:46 GMT 09.01.2023)
© AP Photo / JOHANNA GERON
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In May 2022, Sweden and neighboring Finland broke with decades of military non-alignment and applied to join the US-led alliance, citing a change in their security landscape following Russia's special operation in Ukraine.
Despite the considerable lengths Stockholm has gone to in its attempts to please Turkey, Ankara has time and again stressed that more was needed to win its full backing for Sweden’s NATO bid. Turkey has made some demands that Sweden cannot meet, the Nordic nation’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has said.
“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 give it. Now the decision rests with Turkey,” Ulf Kristersson said at a security conference also attended by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, highlighting the trilateral memorandum which Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed in the summer of 2022, agreeing to several commitments.
“We are convinced that Turkey will make a decision, we just don't know when,” Kristersson said, adding that the outcome of Sweden’s bid will depend on Turkey’s internal politics as well as “Sweden's capacity to show its seriousness.”
When asked if he thought that Ankara would ratify the Swedish application before the election in Turkey, Kristersson replied that this was “impossible to know.”
NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg said he expects both countries will be able to join the military alliance as early as this year, while admitting the decision hinges on the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments. Among the 30 NATO members, only Hungary and Turkey have yet to welcome the two Nordic applications. However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has pledged that his parliament will soon approve both Finland and Sweden's accession bids, leaving Turkey the main holdout.
NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg said he expects both countries will be able to join the military alliance as early as this year, while admitting the decision hinges on the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments. Among the 30 NATO members, only Hungary and Turkey have yet to welcome the two Nordic applications. However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has pledged that his parliament will soon approve both Finland and Sweden's accession bids, leaving Turkey the main holdout.
Finland’s foreign minister said that the country would wait to join NATO at the same time as its neighbor.
“Finland is not in such a rush to join NATO that we can't wait until Sweden gets the green light,” Pekka Haavisto was quoted as saying.
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In May 2022, Sweden and neighboring Finland broke with decades of military non-alignment and applied to join the US-led alliance, citing a change in their security landscape following Russia's special operation in Ukraine.
However, Turkey has refused to approve their bids unless the two nations take some steps, including taking a tougher stance against Kurdish organizations Ankara accuses of terrorism. Therefore, most of Turkey's demands of Stockholm have involved Sweden because of its lively ties with the Kurdish diaspora. Stockholm and Helsinki were even provided with a list of people Ankara wants extradited — which is a sensitive issue for Sweden, which takes pride in its image as a champion of human rights.
Until now, however, Stockholm has shown an apparent readiness to satisfy Ankara, having lifted the ban on arms exports to Turkey it itself introduced following Ankara’s military operation in northern Syria, distanced itself from the Kurdish organizations it previously supported and even extradited some of the people from Ankara’s wishlist despite criticism from the opposition and numerous human rights groups for what they see as abandoning the nation’s historic principles.
In late December, Turkey praised Sweden for responding to its security concerns but stressed that more was needed to win Ankara's full backing for Stockholm's stalled NATO membership bid.
