Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday (10th) that his country will only support Sweden’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) if the European Union (EU) opens the way for the accession of Ankara to the European bloc.
“I am asking these countries that have been keeping Turkey waiting at the door of the European Union for over 50 years […] first come and pave the way for Turkey in the European Union and then we will pave the way for Sweden [na OTAN]just like we did with Finland,” said Erdogan before leaving for the NATO summit in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.
After the Turkish leader spoke, a spokesperson for the European Commission recalled that joining the EU and NATO are “separate processes” and that the two cannot be linked.
“The accession process of each candidate country [a UE] is based on merits,” he noted.
Asked about Erdogan’s speech, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Sweden had already fulfilled the necessary requirements to join the military alliance and said he hoped it was still “possible to take a positive decision on Sweden in Vilnius”. “. The Norwegian politician also emphasized his support for Turkey’s entry into the EU.
Negotiations between Ankara and the European bloc have been ongoing since 2005, but were frozen after the failed attempt at a military coup in the country in 2016.
Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in 2022 after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Finland’s entry was approved in April this year, while Sweden’s entry was pending support from Turkey and Hungary.
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