Swedish PM on Stalled NATO Bid: Turkey Wants Things Stockholm ‘Cannot Give’
In May 2022, Sweden and neighboring Finland broke with decades of military non-alignment and applied to join the US-led alliance, citing a change in their security landscape following Russia's special operation in Ukraine. | Despite the considerable lengths Stockholm has gone to in its attempts to please Turkey, Ankara has time and again stressed that more was needed to win its full backing for Sweden’s NATO bid. Turkey has made some demands that Sweden cannot meet, the Nordic nation’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has said. 💬 “Turkey has confirmed that we have done what we said we would do, but it also says that it wants things that we can't, that we don't want to give it. Now the decision rests with Turkey,” Ulf Kristersson said at a security conference also attended by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, highlighting the trilateral memorandum which Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed in the summer of 2022, agreeing to several commitments. ● NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg said he expects both countries will be able to join the military alliance as early as this year, while admitting the decision hinges on the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments. Among the 30 NATO members, only Hungary and Turkey have yet to welcome the two Nordic applications. However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has pledged that his parliament will soon approve both Finland and Sweden's accession bids, leaving Turkey the main holdout.
■ Sweden complains NATO member is asking for the impossible (RT.com)