Turkey Endorses Sweden’s NATO Membership

Turkey has a veto over any new member joining Nato as one of its 31 members. US President Joe Biden responded to the information by saying that he appreciated President Erdogan’s promise to move the ratification process along quickly.

Annalen Baerbock, the foreign minister of Germany, tweeted: “At 32, we’re all safer together.” Sweden’s inclusion, according to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, will make us all safer.

Following discussions between the leaders of Sweden and Turkey in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, Mr. Stoltenberg made the announcement late on Monday.

The Nato chief called it a historic step but emphasized that it was impossible to specify a specific timetable for Sweden’s membership in the military alliance because that was dependent on the Turkish parliament.

In May of last year, many months after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and its eastern neighbor Finland, both of which have a long history of remaining neutral in times of war, declared their intention to join Nato. In April, Finland officially joined.

As a result, Sweden has revised its laws and constitution, increased its counterterrorism efforts against the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is outlawed in Turkey), and resumed arms exports to Turkey.

Stoltenberg Reveals Turkey Supporting Sweden For NATO 

The only two Nato countries who have not yet approved Sweden’s membership request are Turkey and Hungary.

Turkey first requested to join the EU in 1987, but the process was put on hold due to President Erdogan’s country’s slide into dictatorship.

However, Mr. Erdogan has also taken on a distinctive role as a Nato leader with clout in Moscow since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, which permits Ukraine to export agricultural goods from its ports, was facilitated in part by him last year.

Despite repeated Russian threats to pull out of the agreement, Turkey has contributed to its survival. Turkey, though, has also enraged the Kremlin by giving Ukraine weaponized drones.

Source: news.google.com