Sweden, Türkiye to hold NATO discussions 'soon' - ministry
The Swedish foreign ministry announced on Monday that the foreign ministers of Sweden and Türkiye are scheduled to meet "soon" to address the matter of Stockholm's delayed bid to join NATO. This meeting indicates a willingness on both sides to engage in dialogue and discuss the implications and progress of Sweden's aspiration to become a member of the NATO alliance.
- Diplomacy
- Reuters
- Published Date: 04:15 | 29 May 2023
- Modified Date: 04:15 | 29 May 2023
The foreign ministers of Sweden and Türkiye will meet "soon" to discuss Stockholm's delayed bid to join NATO, the Swedish foreign ministry said on Monday.
Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. However, while Finland joined the Western military alliance in April, Sweden's bid has been held up by objections from Türkiye and Hungary.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom initially told broadcaster SVT on Monday he would meet his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Thursday at a gathering of NATO foreign ministers in Oslo.
"But we have been informed that Türkiye's foreign minister is not coming, so there won't be any meeting there," a spokesperson for Billstrom said, adding that the meeting would nevertheless take place "soon".
Frictions between Türkiye and Sweden are longstanding.
Türkiye says Sweden harbours members of militant groups it considers to be terrorists and has not fulfilled its part of a deal struck in Madrid in June last year to assuage Ankara's security concerns.
Discussions between the two countries over NATO ground to a halt during the election.
"I look forward to being able to shift into a higher gear and speed things up now we know what the result is," Billstrom said.
Billstrom reiterated that the government hoped Sweden could become NATO's 32nd member state by the time of the alliance's summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 11-12.