NATO urges Turkey to drop objections to Swedish membership ahead of summit

OSLO, Norway (AP) — NATO on Thursday stepped up pressure on its member Turkey to drop its objections to Sweden’s membership as the military organization seeks to settle the matter from here. the meeting of US President Joe Biden and his counterparts next month.

Fearful of being targeted after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Sweden and Finland abandoned their traditional positions of military non-alignment to seek protection under the NATO security umbrella. . Finland became NATO’s 31st member country in April.

NATO must unanimously agree to the membership of countries. The Turkish government accuses Sweden of being too soft on terrorist organizations and security threats, including Kurdish militant groups and people associated with a 2016 coup attempt.

Hungary also delayed its approval, but the reasons were not made public.

“It’s time for Sweden to join now,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt told reporters in Oslo, where she was hosting a meeting with her counterparts to prepare for the July 11-12 NATO summit in Lithuania.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he would visit Ankara “in the near future to continue discussing how we can secure Sweden’s membership as quickly as possible.” He was unable to provide a specific date for his trip.

“I am convinced that Hungary will also ratify the accession protocol,” Stoltenberg said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said “it is essential that we can finally welcome Sweden as the 32nd member”. She stressed that the Swedish government had “full support” from Berlin.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said “it is time for Turkey and Hungary to start the ratification of Swedish NATO membership”. He said “everything (that) prevents Sweden from joining NATO will be considered wine for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin”.

For months, Sweden, Finland and Turkey have been holding talks to try to address Ankara’s concerns. Billström said he expects things to be clarified at a further meeting of this “permanent joint mechanism” in the coming weeks.

He noted that as of Thursday, Sweden had tightened its anti-terrorism laws. It is now illegal to fund, recruit or publicly encourage “a terrorist organization”, or to travel abroad with the intention of joining such groups.

Now may be the time to move on. Sweden’s membership became embroiled in Turkey’s election campaign, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won on Sunday. Erdogan has also been looking for upgraded American fighter jets, and Washington signaled this week that they could be delivered.

“I spoke to Erdogan and he still wants to work on something on the F-16s. I told him we want a deal with Sweden. So let’s go,” Biden said on Monday.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that the issues of Sweden’s membership and fighter jets were separate. However, he stressed that completing both would significantly strengthen European security.

“Both are vital, in our view, for European security,” Blinken told reporters. “We believe both need to move forward as quickly as possible; i.e. Sweden joining and advancing the F-16 package more broadly.

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Cook reported from Brussels. David Keyton in Oslo, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.

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