NATO absolutely wants to believe in it, despite the re-election of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is opposed to it. Sweden’s membership of NATO is “absolutely possible” by the Alliance summit in Vilnius in July, said Tuesday the head of the organization, Jens Stoltenberg.
“There are no guarantees,” he admitted at a press conference in Oslo, which this week is hosting an informal meeting of the heads of diplomacy from NATO countries. “We don’t have any certainty. Of course, we are talking about sovereign decisions by national parliaments”, he insisted, but “my message is that it is within our reach”.
Ankara blocks Swedish candidacy
For the Secretary General of NATO, “there is now a window, in particular after the Turkish elections and with the Turkish parliament being constituted”. “Of course it is possible,” he concluded. Turkey is, along with Hungary, the only one of the 31 NATO countries not yet to have ratified Swedish membership. Finland formally became the Alliance’s 31st member on April 4. Reelected on Sunday for five years, Recep Tayyip Erdogan blocks this Swedish candidacy by accusing Stockholm of sheltering Turkish opposition figures and Kurdish militants from movements considered “terrorists” by Ankara.
Jens Stoltenberg said he had “constant contact with the Turkish authorities” to try to remove the last obstacles. Parliament being in the process of being set up in Ankara, the head of Turkish diplomacy will not be present this week in Oslo for the meeting of NATO foreign ministers, supposed to prepare for the Vilnius summit on July 11 and 12.