Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström made statements to the Swedish media about his country’s membership process to NATO. Stating that his country is trying to fulfill all the articles of the tripartite memorandum signed between Finland, Sweden and Turkey, Billström argued that it is almost time for Turkey to approve Sweden’s NATO membership. Billström stated that Sweden’s NATO membership process became more difficult after the provocative action by Danish far-right Strict Direction Party leader Rasmus Paludan by burning the Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. He suggested why.
On the other hand, Billström said that he expects Sweden’s NATO membership to be approved at the NATO Summit to be held in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, in July.
‘TURKEY WILL DECIDE WHEN IT WILL BE APPROVED’
After Billström’s statements about his country’s membership process to Sweden, the news that “Sweden froze the NATO membership process” took place in the press. Billström’s press secretary, Anna Erhardt, stated that Billström’s statements were misunderstood and announced that Sweden did not suspend the NATO membership process.
Erhardt denied the reports that Sweden suspended the NATO membership process, saying, “The NATO process has not stalled. The government continues to implement the memorandum between Sweden, Finland and Turkey. However, Turkey will decide when to ratify it.”
TURKEY DELAYS TRIPLE MEETINGS
Turkey decided to postpone the tripartite talks with Sweden and Finland after the provocative action by Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the Danish far-right Strict Direction Party, by burning the Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu emphasized that Sweden should make a decision regarding the NATO membership process and said, “These are mines in the membership process. In this environment, a three-party meeting is meaningless. The purpose of this three-way meeting, we put the testament in front of you, in which of them we see what Sweden and Finland did or did not do. It has been postponed because the current environment will overshadow this, because it will not be a healthy meeting. Regardless of this, we see that Sweden has not taken any serious steps to implement this treaty. ‘I am changing the constitution, I am changing the anti-terror law, I have done my part’ will not happen, it will not pass. A three-way meeting will not help here either. We have not received an official proposal to separate the membership processes of Sweden and Finland. There are steps that the two countries need to take in the membership process. Relatively, the problems we face with Finland are less than with Sweden. But both NATO and these countries are in favor of carrying out this membership process together.”