Top officials from Turkiye and Sweden in fresh attempt to overcome NATO membership concerns

BRUSSELS — Senior officials from Sweden and Turkiye arrived at NATO headquarters on Thursday to examine Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s objections to the Nordic country joining the military alliance and to see what more, if anything, could be done to break the deadlock.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is leading the talks, which will involve the countries’ foreign ministers, intelligence chiefs and national security advisers.

Top officials from Finland, which joined NATO in April after addressing Turkiye’s concerns, planned to take part.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will be joined at the meetings by Erdogan’s chief adviser Akif Cagatay Kilic, Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Akcapar and the intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, according to a foreign ministry statement.

As the officials entered NATO headquarters in Brussels, workers busied themselves inside a roped-off area where the national flags of the alliance’s 31 member countries fly and Sweden hopes its flag will be hoisted once Turkiye and Hungary ratify the Nordic nation’s membership.

Fearing for their security, Sweden and neighbouring Finland ended their longstanding policy of military nonalignment after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and applied to join NATO.

US President Joe Biden welcomed Sweden’s prime minister to the White House on Wednesday in a show of solidarity ahead of the alliance’s two-day summit starting Tuesday in Lithuania.

Only Turkiye and Hungary have delayed Sweden’s membership. The other 29 allies, Stoltenberg and Sweden have all said the country has done enough to satisfy Turkiye’s demands.

Sweden has changed its anti-terror laws and lifted an arms embargo on Turkiye, among other concessions.

But Turkiye accuses Sweden of being too lenient toward groups that Ankara says pose a security threat, including militant Kurdish groups and people associated with a 2016 coup attempt.

NATO requires the unanimous approval of all 31 members to expand.

Turkiye’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the participants in Thursday’s talks would review steps Finland and Sweden took, especially in the context of fighting terrorism, since the last meeting, which was held in Ankara on June 14.

In a new development just before the meeting, a Turkish man was found guilty of attempted aggravated extortion, weapons possession and attempted terrorist financing, saying he was acting on behalf of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

The Stockholm District Court sentenced Yahya G ng r to a total of 4 1/2 years in prison for the crimes, after which he would be expelled from Sweden and banned from returning.

It was the first time that a Swedish court sentenced someone for terrorist financing of the party, Judge Mans Wigen said.

Also known as PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party has waged an insurgency in southeast Turkiye since 1984 and is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkiye, the United States and the European Union. It’s unclear whether the Swedish court action would have any impact on Erdogan’s thinking.

Hungary is also holding up approval of Sweden’s candidacy but has never clearly stated publicly what its concerns are. NATO officials expect that Hungary will follow suit once Turkiye lifts its objections.

At a European Union summit last week, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he had spoken twice to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and “both times he has confirmed that Hungary will not delay.”

Turkiye is a different matter. A Quran-burning protest, at which the media vastly outnumbered the participants, outside a mosque in Stockholm has fuelled tensions. Police permitted the protest, citing freedom of speech, after a court overturned a ban on a similar burning of the Muslim holy book.

Erdogan criticised Sweden last week for allowing the protest. Turkish defense ministry spokesman Zeki Akturk condemned what he called a “vile attack on our sacred values that was carried out in the name of so-called freedom of expression’.”

“The Quran-burning incident that took place of the first day of the Eid al-Adha holiday is an indication of how justified we were with our reservations (about Sweden),” Akturk said, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.

It’s unclear exactly what more Turkiye wants, but Thursday’s meeting is designed to flesh that out. Erdogan railed against Sweden while on the campaign trail for elections in May, and NATO officials had expected him to relent after he was reelected.

Erdogan is also seeking upgraded F-16 fighter jets from the US, but Biden has suggested that Sweden’s membership should be endorsed first.

NATO had hoped the problem would be resolved before its July 11-12 summit in Lithuania.

Sweden’s entry would be a symbolically powerful moment and the latest indication that Russia’s war is driving countries to join the alliance. Those hopes have dimmed.