According to NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, Sweden has already met the conditions for NATO ratification.
President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has connected Sweden’s admission to NATO membership with the fact that Turkey’s admission to EU membership is progressing.
According to Erdoğan, Turkey is ready to accept Sweden’s NATO membership, but the EU should start membership negotiations with Turkey.
Negotiations on Turkey’s accession to the European Union have not progressed for years. Turkey was accepted as a candidate for EU membership in 1999 at the EU summit in Helsinki. Membership negotiations began in 2005.
Stoltenberg: Negotiating Turkey’s EU membership is not a condition
Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg says that NATO expects Sweden to join as a member as soon as possible. He responds to the Turkish president’s demand by reminding that things that Sweden has fulfilled were agreed upon in Madrid as a condition for NATO ratification.
Among these issues was not negotiating Turkey’s EU membership.
– I support Turkey’s goal of EU membership, Stoltenberg said, however.
President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda emphasized that it is important not to start demanding new things in addition to the agreed and already fulfilled requirements.
Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz again said that Sweden’s NATO membership is not related to Turkey’s EU membership. He also reminded in his interview in Berlin that Sweden meets all the requirements for NATO membership.
The ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership is on display at this week’s NATO summit. The meeting will take place in the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, on July 11-12.
Sources: Reuters, AFP