NATO chief in Turkey to speed up Sweden’s path to membership | NOW

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg will soon visit Turkey to expedite Sweden’s entry into the alliance. Turkey has still not given its final agreement to NATO membership for Sweden and Finland.

Sweden is very determined to ease Turkey’s concerns, Stoltenberg said on Wednesday. The new Swedish Prime Minister will also visit Ankara one of these days.

The efforts to welcome Sweden and Finland “as soon as possible” are of course also supported by me, assures the secretary general of the Western military alliance.

Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, after decades of explicitly staying out of military blocs. But Turkey opposed it and only relented when Sweden promised, among other things, to lift its arms embargo against Turkey. Sweden has also pledged to cooperate more closely in the search for and extradition of Kurdish activists.

The arrival of a new right-wing government in Sweden could ease relations with Turkey, according to NATO diplomats. He likes the Kurds less than the left-wing parties.

NATO is less concerned about the lack of Hungarian fiat for Sweden and Finland, according to alliance sources. Hungary “has made it clear” that parliament will start working on approval next month, Stoltenberg said. The other 28 NATO members have already completed it.