Turkey Maintains Stance on Sweden as NATO Scrambles Before Next Summit

(Photo : Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP) (KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images)
Turkey maintains its refusal to ratify Sweden's membership with NATO while also threatening to hold up the military alliance's defense strategy.

Turkey refuses to accept Sweden's application to join the NATO military alliance as Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg scrambles before the next summit.

Furthermore, Ankara is demanding even more from NATO's defense strategy, including a request for critical waterways that connect the Black Sea to the Aegean, referred to as the "Turkish Straits" rather than just the "Straits."

Turkey's Continued Defiance

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also continues to pressure Sweden to comply with his demands to crack down on alleged Kurdish terrorist sympathizers. This is a precondition for Ankara to ratify Stockholm's application to join the military alliance.

During a phone call with Stoltenberg on Sunday, Erdogan noted that Turkey engaged constructively with Sweden. However, he noted that the latter's stiffening of its anti-terror legislation was "meaningless" as long as supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party and its Syrian affiliates were allowed to conduct demonstrations against Turkey in the Swedish capital, as per Al-Monitor.

Additionally, the NATO secretary-general announced that a high-level delegation led by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, which includes intelligence officials, will meet with their Swedish counterparts. They will assess whether or not further progress could be made ahead of the Brussels summit.

Now, Turkey is adding demands on the alliance itself that threaten to hold up NATO's new defense strategy, which is the most ambitious overhaul to be drafted since the end of the Cold War. The effort received added urgency following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Reports noted that on June 16, NATO defense ministers disagreed on the new strategy. The plans outline how the military alliance would respond to a potential Russian assault.

On Monday, Stoltenberg said he planned to call an urgent meeting in the next few days to try and address Turkey's objections to Sweden's application. According to the Associated Press, it is the NATO secretary-general's last-ditch effort to have the Nordic country stand alongside other global allies.

Sweden's NATO Application

Turkey's objections are crucial to talks about the issue because NATO requires unanimous approval of all members to expand its ranks. Stoltenberg said he held fresh talks on Sweden's application with Erdogan and senior officials from Sweden and neighboring Finland, which was the most recent addition to NATO's members.

In a statement, Stoltenberg said they agreed to convene a high-level meeting in Brussels before the scheduled summit. He noted that the talks aim to progress in completing Stockholm's accession to NATO.

Finland and Sweden's sudden decision to end decades of neutrality and apply to join NATO came amid fears that Moscow would target them after it moved to invade Ukraine. On the other hand, Hungary has also delayed its approval of Sweden's membership but has not publicly stated why.

Most of NATO's member countries ratified the two nations' applications, arguing that Finland and Sweden would strengthen the alliance in the Baltic. Yahoo News said the former is known to share a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia.