Sweden is to be allowed to join Nato after Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, agreed to set aside his veto and recommend to his parliament that Sweden’s application go ahead.
The Monday night breakthrough came in last-ditch talks on the eve of the Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania . It ended nearly a year of brinkmanship by Turkey, which has insisted it will not accede to Sweden’s application to join Nato unless Stockholm did more to clamp down on exiled Kurdish activists.
The announcement that Erdoğan would recommend Sweden’s membership was made by the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, who had overseen talks between Erdoğan and the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, in Vilnius.
Glad to announce that after the meeting I hosted with @RTErdogan & @SwedishPM, President Erdogan has agreed to forward #Sweden’s accession protocol to the Grand National Assembly ASAP & ensure ratification. This is an historic step which makes all #NATO Allies stronger & safer. pic.twitter.com/D7OeR5Vgba
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) July 10, 2023He said at a press conference “I’m glad to announce … that President Erdoğan has agreed to forward the accession protocol for Sweden to the grand national assembly as soon as possible, and work closely with the assembly to ensure ratification”.
Joe Biden – who held last-minute talks with Erdoğan during his flight to Europe on Sunday – was quick to welcome the announcement, saying in a statement: “I stand ready to work with President Erdoğan and Türkiye on enhancing defense and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Kristersson and Sweden as our 32nd NATO Ally. And I thank Secretary General Stoltenberg for his steadfast leadership.”
Sweden’s Nato accession has been held up by objections from Turkey since last year.
Earlier in the day the prospects of a deal had appeared to recede when Erdogan threw in fresh demands that the EU reopen talks about Turkey’s accession to the EU.
Speaking at the airport before departing for the Nato summit, the Turkish president said: “First, let’s pave the way for Turkey in the European Union and then we will pave the way for Sweden just as we did for Finland.”
Erdoğan’s remarks suggest diplomats’ eve-of-summit efforts to lift the year-long Turkish veto on Sweden’s membership of Nato will be even more complex than envisaged.
Turkey has been in talks over joining the EU in one form or another since 1987 but there is no enthusiasm for letting such a large country with a questionable human rights record join.
More details soon…