Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said that his country could approve the backing of Sweden’s membership in NATO if nations in European Union “open the way” for Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.
Erdogan in his public address clearly linked Sweden’s membership in the Western military alliance to his country’s long wait to join the EU before he is set to depart for a NATO summit that is set to start on Tuesday in Lithuania’s capital Ankara. While speaking to his US counterpart Joe Biden, Erdogan said his country wanted a “clear and strong” message of support for Turkey’s European Union ambitions by NATO leaders set to meet in Vilnius.
Erdogan said, “Turkey has been waiting at the door of the European Union for over 50 years now, and almost all of the NATO member countries are now members of the European Union,” Erdogan said Monday. “I am making this call to these countries that have kept Turkey waiting at the gates of the European Union for more than 50 years.”
“Come and open the way for Turkey’s membership in the European Union. When you pave the way for Turkey, we’ll pave the way for Sweden as we did for Finland,” he added.
Turkish President Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson were expected to meet in Vilnius later on Monday.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg when asked about Erdogan’s comment said that he supports Turkey’s desire to join EU but clarified that it wasn’t among the conditions listed in an agreement that Sweden, Finland and Turkey signed in NATO’s summit held last year. Stoltenberg said that Sweden had met the terms and conditions and thinks it is “still possible to have a positive decision” on the pending membership of country during the Lithuania summit scheduled this week.
Turkey is among the top candidate to join EU, but the democratic backslides seen during Erdogan’s presidency is disputing with EU-member Cyprus and various other issues have been a blockade for Turkey to join the 27 nation member EU.
As a NATO member, Erdogan’s government has postponed ratifying Sweden’s NATO accession, it said that the administration in Stockholm needs to look at more crack down on Kurdish militants and other extremist groups that Ankara considers threat to its national security. Various Anti-Turkey and anti-Islam protests held at Stockholm raised number of doubts that an agreement in order to satisfy Turkey’s demand could be reached before the summit.
Swedish foreign minister Tobias Billström told the public broadcaster SVT that he expected Turkey to signal eventually that it is ready to support Sweden to join the 31-nation military alliance, though he is uncertain it would happen at the annual summit or not.
While Erdogan on Monday again insisted that Turkey expects Sweden to fight the extremist groups that Ankara considers threat to the country.
