Sweden and Finland want to join NATO. But Turkey is blocking – and making demands. Now the countries are in dialogue. But a result may still take time, says the Swedish head of government.
After Turkey’s veto at the start of Sweden and Finland’s admission process to NATO, talks between the Nordic countries and Turkey are continuing.
“It’s good that we can continue this dialogue, but it will certainly take some time,” Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson told the TT news agency on Monday. After the “good talks” she had with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the weekend, bilateral and trilateral talks will continue in the near future.
Earlier, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told Finnish broadcaster Yle: “I’m optimistic that we’ll find a solution to the problem, but it may take time.” Haavisto named the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June as a possible deadline.
Turkey accuses Sweden, among other things, of supporting “terrorist groups”. She is referring to the Kurdish militia YPG in Syria. After a Turkish military offensive against the YPG in 2019, Sweden, Finland and Germany, among others, restricted arms exports to Turkey.
