Discussions between Türkiye and Sweden on NATO membership have been suspended, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said Saturday.
He said the Swedish government was investing time and effort to move forward again and continued to hope that the process could be completed in the summer, according to the newspaper Expressen. Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson had also expressed optimism on this issue a few days ago.
Finland this week said for the first time that it had to consider joining NATO without Sweden, whose bid appeared to grind to a halt as Ankara blasted Stockholm over anti-Türkiye and anti-Islam protests.
Finland – which shares a 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) border with Russia – and Sweden applied to join NATO last year after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, ending decadeslong policies of military nonalignment.
Türkiye has frequently voiced that it does not oppose NATO enlargement, but rather criticizes Stockholm for not taking action against elements that are posing a security threat to Ankara.
Last June, Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum to address Ankara’s legitimate security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership in the alliance.
But recent provocative demonstrations by terrorist supporters and Islamophobic figures in Stockholm have led Turkish leaders to question Sweden’s commitment to take the steps necessary to gain NATO membership.
Ankara has long criticized Stockholm for housing members of various terrorist organizations, particularly members of the PKK and, in recent years, the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) – the organization behind the 2016 defeated coup attempt in Türkiye.
Ahead of a historic NATO summit, the three countries signed a trilateral deal in June that prevented a Turkish veto. In the memorandum, the Nordic countries said they would address Türkiye’s extradition requests for terrorists. In addition, the joint directive states that Finland and Sweden “will not provide support to the organization described as FETÖ” and terrorist groups.
