Turkey is ready to resume talks on Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO, after negotiations had been halted following incidents including a Koran burning last month outside of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
Days after a visit by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to Ankara, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said a committee set up to oversee progress on an agreement between the three countries will meet at the defense alliance’s headquarters in Brussels. Speaking at a press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday, Cavusoglu indicated North Atlantic Treaty Organization representatives will attend the talks.
Sweden has recently come closer to a prospect of seeing its bid for membership stall as its fellow invitee, Finland, looks closer to winning the Turkish parliament’s sign-off. The announcement of a resumption of talks was welcomed by Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson.
“I have said, a few weeks ago, that we want to return to those talks as soon as possible, bring down the temperature and hold constructive talks as that is a condition for Sweden to join as soon as possible,” Kristersson said at a press conference in Stockholm. “It’s very good that these talks can restart, but as far as I am aware there are no dates set for this.”
The relationship between the two countries soured after an incident in which an effigy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was hoisted upside down from a lamppost in Stockholm, and the burning of a Koran by a Danish-Swedish far-right activist. After that, talks on ratification were halted and Erdogan said Sweden shouldn’t expect Turkish support for its membership bid.
Kristersson said that while it’s ultimately up to Turkey to decide whether or not to ratify the application, Sweden will continue to follow the agreement hammered out at NATO’s June summit in Madrid last year, which includes pledges from the Nordic countries to avoid arms embargoes on Turkey and do more to combat terrorism. Sweden’s government is likely to decide on new, stricter anti-terror laws next month for entry into force June 1.
“Thereby we take a very important step toward fulfilling our obligations according to the trilateral memorandum,” Kristersson said. “Sweden has delivered results on all parts of the agreement, systematically and methodically, and we continue to implement the agreement.”
Approval by Hungary for NATO’s enlargement is also pending, with the latest indications pointing to its parliament starting to process the applications next month, though its timelines have shifted.
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(Bloomberg News reporter Jonas Ekblom contributed to this story.)
