[ad_1]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson are expected to meet later Monday in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius ahead of a two-day NATO summit. According to the Associated Press, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billström was optimistic about Türkiye giving up its objection to Swedish NATO membership, saying the Nordic country’s accession is a matter of when not if. Billström told public broadcaster SVT that he expects Türkiye to eventually indicate that it will let Sweden join the pact, though he could not say if it would happen at the annual summit.
“What we are counting on, of course, is to reach a point where we get a message back from President Erdogan that there will be what you might call a green light … a message that the ratification process in the Turkish Parliament can start Billström said, as quoted by AP.
ALSO READ | SC Extends Ex-Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain’s Interim Bail Till July 24 In Money Laundering Case
Previously, Türkiye stalled Sweden’s NATO accession contending that the country needs to do more to crack down on Kurdish militants and other groups that Ankara deems as threats to its national security.
Recently, anti-Türkiye and anti-Islam protests, including the burning of the Quran, in Stockholm caused uncertainty that an agreement could be reached before the upcoming NATO summit.
As per AP, the Swedish Foreign Minister emphasized that his country fulfilled its part of a tripartite deal that Sweden, Finland, and Türkiye signed at last year’s NATO summit in Madrid.
“We should consider it as a settled question in the sense that it is not a question of if. In connection with the NATO summit in Madrid last year, Turkey already gave Sweden status as an invitee to NATO. It is therefore a question of when,” he said, as quoted by AP.
He further mentioned that he expects Hungary, which also hasn’t supported Sweden’s accession, to do so before Turkey.
Earlier, non-aligned Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland joined the alliance in April this year.
Subscribe And Follow ABP Live On Telegram: https://t.me/officialabplive
[ad_2]
Source link