Sweden declares its inability to meet Turkey’s demands on NATO

The Swedish prime minister announced on Sunday that Turkey, which has blocked Sweden and Finland from joining NATO since May, has made demands that Sweden cannot and cannot accept.

“Turkey confirms that we have implemented what we pledged to do, but it also says it wants things we cannot and will not fulfill,” Ulf Kristersson said during a conference on defense and security in the presence of the NATO secretary general. Jens Stoltenberg.

“We are convinced that Turkey will take a decision, and we don’t know exactly when,” he added, noting that “the decision is in Turkey’s camp.”

This decision is particularly subject to several factors of Turkish internal politics.

In late December, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Stockholm had taken “positive measures” but that Ankara was waiting for “other big steps” to withdraw its objection to Sweden joining NATO.

And the NATO secretary general announced on Sunday that Sweden and Finland could join NATO starting in 2023, but indicated that the decision rested with the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments.

These positions come days after Sweden’s Supreme Court refused to expel Turkish journalist Bulent Kennish, who is asking President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to extradite him.

And the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments are the only ones that have not ratified the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO.

As for the Swedish foreign minister, the process of implementing the memorandum concluded between Turkey, Sweden and Finland is “in full swing”.

“I cannot give a timeline here and now, but the implementation of the terms of the memorandum is in full swing and we are progressing little by little,” Tobias Bellström said during a media briefing.

For his part, Finland’s foreign minister confirmed on the sidelines of the conference on Sunday that his country would join NATO, along with its neighbour.

“Finland is not in such a hurry to join NATO that we can’t wait for Sweden to get approval,” Pekka Haavisto told reporters.

He stressed that the heads of the Swedish parliament and the Finnish parliament are expected to visit Ankara in mid-January. Another meeting between officials from the three countries is scheduled for the spring.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christerson, head of a Conservative government, made one of his first foreign visits to Ankara in early November in an attempt to lift Turkish objection.