The historic announcement that Turkey will say yes to Sweden was prompted by a week of several steps in the right direction.
TV4’s political commentator Ann Tiberg reveals what happened behind the scenes and what finally made President Erodogan swing.
On Monday evening, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Turkey has swung and after long negotiations is ready to approve Sweden’s application to the defense alliance.
TV4’s political commentator Ann Tiberg has reviewed what happened along the way and can now reveal the behind-the-scenes game that led to the historic announcement.
During Wednesday, last week, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited the White House and sat in the chair opposite President Joe Biden. It has an important symbolic value, says Ann Tiberg.
– Erdogan would very much like to sit in that chair, but he won’t be allowed to do so until he has admitted Sweden into NATO. It’s the carrot, she says.
“Lots of other carrots”
The following day, on Thursday last week, the meeting between Foreign Minister Tobias Billström, Turkey’s Foreign Minister and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg took place. Already during that meeting, they began discussing the document with Turkey’s demands, which then became clear on Monday.
Ann Tiberg tells us that Tobias Billström has played a big role as he has traveled around and met all the NATO allies. It resulted in more pressure on Turkey.
– There was a parallel event here as well. And it was that lots of other carrots appeared from other NATO allies. But we don’t get to know much about what they contained.
The Turkish delegation was positive
During the weekend, the tedious negotiations and discussions about the document from Thursday continued. With only days left until the start of the summit in Vilnius, it looked rather dark for Sweden. Turkey’s foreign minister and negotiating delegation wanted to calm it down, but they were unsure of what Erdogan would say, says Ann Tiberg.
– He has a lot of power here. But in the delegation they were positive, the chemistry was good, they talk about how they had built trust.
The final nail in the coffin
The EU card is said to have been an important piece of the puzzle for Erdogan.
On Monday morning, Turkey said that it now depended on Sweden helping Turkey start up the negotiations between them and the EU. There are different reports on when the requirement first appeared. But what is known is that European Council President Charles Michel met with Erdogan on Monday. Something that was probably important, says Ann Tiberg.
– They found a sentence from the last European Council meeting where it is written that negotiations with Turkey should be resumed on certain issues. And Charles Michel could take it with him to his meeting with Erdogan on Monday and say: “Look here what we talked about. We would very much like to welcome closer cooperation with Turkey”.
After the meeting, Charles Michel shared a Tweet where he writes that they have discussed Sweden’s entry into NATO and that they welcome cooperation between the EU and Turkey.
A quarter of an hour later, Turkey announced that they are ready to approve Sweden’s NATO application.