Next Monday, July 10, the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, will meet with the Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, and the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, days before the NATO general meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania. The compromise will be aimed at advancing talks on Stockholm’s accession to this organization after long discussions and Ankara’s opposition to this union.
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Sweden seems to be close to being accepted into the Atlantic Alliance (NATO), after senior officials from Turkey and Sweden met in Brussels on July 6 with the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, who assured that the link between the Swedes and the alliance is “within reach”.
To push for its incorporation, Stockholm has changed its constitution, amended anti-terror laws and even lifted an arms embargo on Turkey. The latter together with Hungary are the only members that oppose Sweden’s entry into NATO. The other 29 allies are waiting together with Stoltenberg for the agreement that Ankara and the Nordic country are expected to reach in the coming days. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan acknowledged changes to Sweden’s anti-terror laws and the lifting of gun restrictions.
Despite this, the spirits have not been calm lately. In previous days, some protesters burned a sample of the Koran – the holy book of the Islamic religion – in front of a mosque in Stockholm. The police allowed the protest under the Swedish freedom of expression. For his part, the spokesman for the Turkish Defense Ministry, Zeki Akturk, spoke about the event and considered it a “vile attack on our sacred values that was carried out in the name of so-called freedom of expression.”
Finland applied for NATO membership together with Sweden last year, leaving behind the policies of military non-alignment that had prevailed during the Cold War years. This, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused the security systems and structures in Europe to have adjustments. Finland has been admitted since April this year, however Sweden has not yet received the good news and continues to wait.
Why the “no” from Türkiye to Sweden?
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) emerged in an insurgent manner since 1984 in southeastern Turkey and is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara, the United States and the European Union. Turkey claims that Sweden has allowed the activity of PKK members on Swedish territory. That is why his resounding “no” -so far- when issuing a decision on the union of Stockholm and NATO.
Ankara also claims that Sweden has been lenient towards groups that pose a threat to the security of Turkish homeland and that have had links to Kurdish militants, along with people associated with a coup attempt in Turkey in 2016.
The PKK is also accused of organizing demonstrations inside Turkey and financing terrorist groups. For Ankara, the actions that Stockholm has taken to be able to make a decision on the entry of this country into the military alliance have been decisive. “Sweden took some steps regarding the legal changes, removed the defense industry restrictions against Turkey… The legal changes should be put into practice now,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a conference press.
The last actions of the parties in dispute
In Sweden, days before his upcoming meeting in Vilnius, a Turkish man was found guilty of weapons possession, attempted extortion and attempted financing of terrorism, saying he was acting under the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. The Stockholm District Court sentenced Yahya Güngör to four and a half years in prison for the aforementioned crimes.
For his part, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his Turkish counterpart, Fidan, to encourage Stockholm’s accession to NATO. Meanwhile, on July 5, the US president, Joe Biden, met at the White House with the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristerson. In this way, Washington affirms its support for the union of Stockholm to the Atlantic Alliance and hopes that Ankara will give in to the initiatives of Sweden in recent days.
The NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, assured this July 6 after meeting with the parties that “We all agreed that we have made good progress. We all agreed that Sweden’s full membership is in the interests of the security of all allies, and we all want to conclude this process as soon as possible.”
With Reuters, AP and EFE
