ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Sweden said Thursday it had attained “all the commitments” necessary to join NATO as the alliance’s chief revealed he will visit Turkey to push for Stockholm’s membership after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s re-election.
Sweden and Finland last year reversed their decades-long tradition of military non-alignment and applied to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Unanimous approval is required by alliance members and Turkey has used this as leverage to pressure the Nordic countries to counter Kurdish groups it considers “terrorists” in exchange for Ankara’s yes on the accession.
While Finland’s NATO membership was ratified in April, Ankara continues to block Stockholm from joining.
“This was not a race but a marathon, and we now see the end of it,” Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said during a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Oslo, adding that Stockholm has “all the commitments” fulfilled to join the alliance.
“It is time for Turkey and Hungary to begin the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership,” he added.
During the meeting, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg revealed that he would visit Ankara soon to push for Stockholm’s accession to the alliance after Turkish President Erdogan - who been especially vocal about his concrete demands to admit Sweden - was re-elected during Sunday’s election runoff.
“I’m confident of course that Sweden will become a member and we are working for that to happen as soon as possible,” Stoltenberg said.
Turkey and Hungary are the only two countries remaining to vote yes on Sweden’s membership.
Erdogan, who was recently elected for five more years, has accused Sweden of harboring and supporting groups including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered terrorists by Ankara.
The PKK is a Kurdish group fighting for the increased political and cultural rights of Kurds in Turkey and has waged an armed insurgency against Ankara for decades. The Turkey-PKK conflict has killed tens of thousands and spans across the Kurdistan Region and Syria as well.
As part of its demands, Turkey is seeking the extradition of PKK members in Sweden, with Erdogan saying that there were as many as 130 there.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urged Turkey and Hungary to ratify Sweden’s accession “as quickly as possible.”
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