French President Emmanuel Macron asked his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday to "respect the sovereign choice" of Finland and Sweden to join NATO.
He was hoping to avoid Ankara vetoing their requests to join the transatlantic defence pact.
Turkey warned this week that the NATO accession process for Sweden and Finland would not move forward unless they addressed Ankara's "security concerns" – a reference to the northern European countries' supposed sympathy toward Kurdish militant groups.
"The president underscored the need to respect the sovereign choice of these two countries, which emerged from a democratic process and in reaction to the changes in their security environment," Macron's office said after a telephone call with Erdogan.
Reversing decades of military non-alignment, Stockholm and Helsinki submitted their bids to join NATO in May 2022, after support for membership soared following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Finland formally entered the alliance on 4 April this year.
Membership of the alliance must be unanimously approved by all members. But Turkey, also a NATO member, is blocking Sweden's accession.
Ankara accuses Stockholm of providing a haven for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies.
Turkey's objections
On 6 July, NATO will hold a meeting of senior officials from Turkey, Sweden and Finland to try to overcome Turkish objections to Sweden joining the military alliance.
The meeting is a last-ditch effort to tackle the final obstacles to Sweden's membership before a major summit the following week.
“I spoke yesterday to President @RTErdogan 🇹🇷 & I'm in contact with the Swedish 🇸🇪 & Finnish 🇫🇮 governments. We agreed to convene a high level meeting in Brussels before the #NATOSummit. The aim is to make progress in completing #Sweden's accession to #NATO” – SG @jensstoltenberg pic.twitter.com/cVuaLBKTRp
— Oana Lungescu (@NATOpress) June 26, 2023
In order to appease Turkey, Sweden tightened its anti-terrorism legislation last July, making it easier to prosecute financing activities for terrorist organisations.
Earlier this month, this resulted in a Turkish citizen appearing in a Swedish court accused of "attempted terrorist financing" of the PKK.
Turkey's patience was further tested when a man set fire to pages of the Koran outside Stockholm's main mosque earlier this week.
Swedish police had granted a permit for the protest, which was carried out by an Iraqi man who fled to Sweden several years ago, and who had asked police for permission to burn the holy book "to express my opinion about the Koran".
Turkey's foreign minister Hakan Fidan condemned the action as "vile" and "despicable".
🕌 Desecration of The Holy Qur’an in Sweden
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) June 28, 2023
🇹🇷 Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan condemns burnings of copy of Islam's holy book, saying ''it is unacceptable to allow these actions under the pretext of freedom of expression'' https://t.co/nml0oxIi2e pic.twitter.com/TPuqfImWTS
Hungary hesitates
But even if Turkey decides to favour Sweden's NATO membership, it is not likely that the matter will be wrapped up by the summit in July.
Another NATO member, Hungary, has not yet decided how to vote. Hungary's parliament this week postponed ratifying Sweden’s NATO accession bid to its autumn session.
The postponement, the latest in a long succession of delays that have gone on for a year, all but guarantees that Sweden will not join the military alliance ahead of, or during, the upcoming NATO summit.
Sweden's membership, if and when it finally comes, would be a highly symbolic moment, and another indication that Russia’s war in Ukraine is driving countries to join the Western alliance.
(with wires)
