On Wednesday afternoon, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a press conference where he summarized the summit in Vilnius. During the press conference, the president was asked, among other things, when Turkey might ratify Sweden’s NATO application – something that he states will only be prioritized this autumn.
– The parliament is currently not working, but when the parliament reopens, the speaker of the parliament will have this as a priority issue on his agenda, he says.
Erdogan opened the press conference by saying that they had just concluded a “successful” summit in Vilnius. He also thanked the alliance’s member countries for the support shown in connection with the earthquake that struck Turkey earlier this year.
Regarding the war in Ukraine, the president said that they will continue to work so that the conflict with Russia can be ended as soon as possible, and that they are still working in “a solution-oriented way”.
Sweden’s NATO application will be taken up this autumn
When it comes to Sweden’s NATO application, Erdogan further stated that there is a plan for when this will be able to be ratified. However, the application will only be taken up after the summer recess – the Turkish parliament closes on July 15 and reopens this autumn.
– There is a plan for what will happen. The Swedish authorities will now forward this plan to us and we will take it on to parliament, he says.
According to the president, the ambition is to “do it as quickly as possible”.
“Very slow in this gateway”
According to Jonas Björck, TV4 Nyhetern’s foreign commentator, indications were received on Wednesday that Sweden’s application will be processed later than Swedish representatives claimed.
– It is very interesting because government representatives, especially Foreign Minister Billström, expressed that this would be ready within the next few weeks. But we have received signals during the day that the more hard-line phalanx in the Turkish parliament opposed them being ordered by the presidents immediately, or at least within the next few weeks, to vote for Swedish entry into NATO, says he.
– Now the president has obviously been impressed by this and said that it could take until October. If it looked like the door was open for us for a while in the last 24 hours, it seems to be very sluggish in this doorway.
Must expand work against terrorism
During the press conference, Erdogan also raised the Koran burnings in Sweden, the issue of terrorism and his view of the PKK, which he believes is a threat to the defense alliance.
He believes that NATO must expand its work against terrorism.
The president also stated that Sweden will “actively” stand behind Turkey’s application to the EU. According to the agreement reached earlier this week between Erdogan, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, Sweden must, in addition to continuing to fight terrorism, also work to enable Turkey to move closer to the union.