On June 21, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom expressed his hope that Türkiye would ratify his country's request to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) because Stockholm has now met its obligations under the agreement with Ankara.
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| Sweden has been working hard to implement the agreement with Türkiye in the hope that Ankara will pave the way for Stockholm to join NATO. Illustration photo. (Source: Shutter stock) |
The Swedish foreign minister asserted that Stockholm had delivered what Ankara had hoped for. Therefore, it was now “time for the Turkish parliament to begin the ratification process.”
At the same time, Mr. Billstrom hopes that Sweden will be able to join by the time of the NATO Summit in Vilnius next July.
This is the only route and Stockholm currently has "no backup plan", the official added.
Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, Sweden and Finland have both abandoned their years-long neutrality to apply to join NATO.
Finland was admitted to NATO last April, but Sweden faced opposition from Türkiye due to some security concerns.
Sweden has recently sought to suppress anti-Türkiye protests in Stockholm, as well as introduce new laws to prevent support for terrorist groups, thereby fulfilling its commitments under an agreement with Ankara in Madrid (Spain) last year.
On the same day, Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus announced that the country is waiting for concrete steps from Stockholm to decide on approving Sweden's accession to NATO at the bloc's Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania - scheduled to take place from July 11-12.
According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Sweden has fulfilled its obligations towards Türkiye, the country that is blocking Stockholm's path to NATO membership.
“We positively assess the changes in the Swedish anti-terrorism law. We are waiting for the concrete effect of these laws and the extradition of the subjects requested by us. As far as I know, the President (Recep Tayyip Erdogan) will attend the summit. We will wait for concrete steps,” Kurtulmus said in an interview with TRT Haber television channel.
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