NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has organized a meeting with the leaders of Turkey and Sweden in Vilnius on Monday to resolve the remaining problems related to Sweden’s accession to NATO.
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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has organized a meeting with the leaders of Turkey and Sweden in Vilnius on Monday to resolve the remaining problems related to Sweden’s accession to NATO.
The purpose of the meeting between Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to “overcome the gap we still see between what Sweden has done and Turkey’s understanding”, Stoltenberg said on Thursday.
“A positive decision is absolutely possible,” Stoltenberg said, referring to Turkey’s objections to Sweden joining NATO and the possibility of overcoming them ahead of next week’s NATO summit in Vilnius.
Erdogan has so far blocked Sweden’s admission, accusing Stockholm of harboring what Ankara considers terrorists, particularly fighters from the Kurdish separatist armed group the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO members that have yet to ratify Sweden’s admission, although it applied to join the alliance with Finland last year after Russia launched a renewed invasion of Ukraine. Finland became a member of the alliance in April.
In an effort to allay Turkey’s concerns, Sweden has strengthened its anti-terrorism laws, and Sweden’s highest court recently approved the extradition of a PKK supporter to Turkey in the first such case. But Turkey still hasn’t budged.
Stoltenberg promised to work hard in the coming days to get Ankara’s agreement by Monday.
