Updated 22:45 | Published 22:43
Turkey will approve Sweden’s NATO application.
Shortly after the announcement, Ulf Kristersson talks about the meeting that made Erdogan change his mind.
– It has been a long day and a long journey on the way to Sweden’s NATO membership, says the Prime Minister.
It is a relieved Ulf Kristersson who meets the press in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius at 10pm on Monday evening.
– It has been a long day and a long journey on the way to Sweden’s NATO membership, he says.
– I am a person who devotes myself more to facts than feelings, but it feels good.
He elaborates:
– This has been my goal image for a very, very long time. Everyone has worked incredibly hard to make this happen.
We have had endless conversations with other prime ministers and presidents about this.
“Very big step”
Half an hour earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had told that Turkey had accepted Sweden’s application to the defense alliance.
Kristersson calls it a “very, very big step on the way to full ratification”.
An important part of the agreement with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is so-called bilateral security cooperation between the countries.
– It is about us continuing our joint efforts to fight organized crime and terrorism. We have continued that cooperation within the framework of the existing memorandum. It now continues in bilateral form at a high level, at ministerial level, he says.
– In the meeting, we also discussed other parts of our bilateral relationship. And agreed on our deepened cooperation on finance, trade and investment.
“Has made great efforts”
According to Kristersson, a lot is about continuing the cooperation that Sweden and Turkey should have had in terms of the security area and “the police”.
– We have made very great efforts in Sweden to become better at discovering links between organized crime and terrorism. For example, financing, to take a very current example, he says.
– For me, it has been important to investigate also for the Turkish side that this is long-term commitment from Sweden’s side.
So this is not something we do to become NATO members.
Strengthens EU cooperation
Sweden must also stand behind strengthened Turkish cooperation with the EU, says Kristersson.
Many Swedish companies and Turkish companies think it is different.
– From the Swedish side, we continue to support closer cooperation between the Union and Turkey. It has been a traditional strong Swedish view for a long time, says Kristersson.
– It could be, for example, about a modernized customs union, or about visa issues. We take note of the fact that in the latest conclusions of the European Council there is also such a wording about resuming the dialogue with Turkey in the fall of 2023.
– I am very happy that we have shaken hands, the three of us; The President of Turkey, the Secretary General of NATO and myself.
Commenting on Koran burnings
In the press conference, Kristersson also comments on the Koran burnings in Sweden, which provoked strong reactions in Turkey and the rest of the Muslim world.
– I emphasize to President Erdogan but also to the Secretary General that I think that what is done, which is legal, does not always have to be appropriate, and that this is largely done to damage Sweden’s relations with Turkey in particular
or to disrupt Sweden’s accession process to NATO, says Kristersson.