On Tuesday, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan questioned whether Sweden’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would be a burden for member countries or a benefit for the Alliance.
The representative of Turkish diplomacy stated that his country still does not agree with Sweden entering the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). For months, Hungary and Turkey are the only countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that have not yet ratified Sweden’s accession.
The main reason that Turkey has not yet accepted Sweden’s inclusion in NATO is that Stockholm allows demonstrations of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on its territory. “Whether Sweden’s entry will be a burden or a benefit in terms of strategic and security assessment is now open to a deeper debate,” Fidan added after once again condemning the recent burning of a copy of the Koran in Stockholm.
The Turkish minister rejected any attempt to pressure his government before the NATO summit in Vilnius to give its approval to the Scandinavian country’s entry into the Alliance. “We don’t think it’s right to use the pressure of time as a method, we act according to our principles. We expect Sweden to fulfill its obligations just like Finland,” Fidan assured.
The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, assured Istanbul that Sweden has implemented everything agreed with Turkey in order to enter the alliance in the coming weeks, even so the Turkish government expressed its discomfort that the Swedes are part of the coalition of countries.
However, everything indicates that at the next summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, there will be no formal invitation for Sweden or Ukraine to join the Alliance, and also that the purpose is to maintain support for as long as necessary for Kiev.
With information from EFE
Keep reading:
- Hungarian authorities still not convinced to include Sweden in NATO
- Government of Turkey reiterates its requirements for Sweden to be part of NATO