Sweden is to be allowed to join Nato after Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, agreed to set aside his veto and recommend to his parliament that Sweden’s application go ahead.
The Monday night breakthrough came in last-ditch talks on the eve of the Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The surprise announcement ended nearly a year of brinkmanship by Turkey, which had insisted it would not accede to Sweden’s application to join Nato unless Stockholm did more to clamp down on exiled Kurdish activists it accuses of terrorism.
The announcement was made by the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, who had overseen the talks between Erdoğan and the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, in Vilnius.
Glad to announce that after the meeting I hosted with @RTErdogan & @SwedishPM, President Erdogan has agreed to forward #Sweden's accession protocol to the Grand National Assembly ASAP & ensure ratification. This is an historic step which makes all #NATO Allies stronger & safer. pic.twitter.com/D7OeR5Vgba
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) July 10, 2023
Stoltenberg said at a press conference: “I’m glad to announce ... that President Erdoğan has agreed to forward the accession protocol for Sweden to the grand national assembly as soon as possible, and work closely with the assembly to ensure ratification.”
Kristersson described the news as a “very big step”, telling reporters: “This feels very good, this has been my aim for a long time, and I believe we had a very fine response today and took a very big step towards membership.”
The Nato chief avoided answering precisely when Sweden would be joining the alliance, saying that Erdoğan had agreed to push ratification in parliament “as soon as possible”. It took two weeks for Turkey’s parliament to ratify Finland’s membership.
Hungary is also yet to approve it, although the government of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has vowed it will not be the last to make the step, implying it will move soon.
Joe Biden, who held last-minute talks with Erdoğan during his flight to Europe on Sunday, was quick to welcome the announcement, saying in a statement: “I stand ready to work with President Erdoğan and Turkey on enhancing defense and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Kristersson and Sweden as our 32nd Nato ally. And I thank Secretary General Stoltenberg for his steadfast leadership.”
The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, tweeted: “This is an historic moment for NATO that makes us all safer. Sweden, we look forward to welcoming you into the Alliance.”
The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, described the development as good news. “There is finally a clear pathway for Turkey’s ratification of Sweden’s Nato membership. Our joint efforts have paid off. With 32 allies at the table we are all safer together. Congratulations, Sweden!” she wrote on Twitter.
A statement issued after the three-way talks between Nato, Turkey and Sweden said that the two countries would work closely in “counter-terrorism coordination” and also boost bilateral trade ties.
“Sweden will actively support efforts to reinvigorate Turkey’s EU accession process, including modernisation of the EU-Turkey Customs Union and visa liberalisation,” the statement said.
Stockholm was also reported to have reassured Ankara that it would not support “terrorist organizations” and that a new bilateral security mechanism will be created between Ankara and Stockholm.
That agreement came after Erdoğan paused his talks with Stoltenberg and Kristersson for a side meeting with the EU chief Charles Michel, president of the European Council.
Michel hailed a “good meeting”, adding that they had “explored opportunities ahead to bring EU-Turkey cooperation back to the forefront and re-energise our relations”.
However, EU members remain sceptical of Ankara’s commitment to democratic and rule of law reforms, and Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, insisted Sweden and Turkey’s ambitions were not linked.
“Sweden meets all the requirements for Nato membership,” Scholz said in Berlin.
“The other question is one that is not connected with it and that is why I do not think it should be seen as a connected issue.”
Sweden’s Nato accession has been held up by objections from Turkey since last year, and earlier in the day the prospects of a deal had appeared to recede when Erdoğan threw in fresh demands that the EU reopen talks about Turkey’s accession to the EU.
Speaking at the airport before departing for the Nato summit, the Turkish president said: “First, let’s pave the way for Turkey in the European Union and then we will pave the way for Sweden just as we did for Finland.”
Turkey has been in talks over joining the EU in one form or another since 1987 but membership talks have been at a standstill since 2018, and there is no enthusiasm for letting such a large country with a questionable human rights record join.
Sweden and Finland submitted simultaneous membership applications last May, abandoning decades of military nonalignment to seek security as Nato members after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Turkey soon abandoned its objections to Finland joining Nato, but the hope that the two Nordic nations would be able to join together was dashed when Erdogan claimed Sweden had not done enough to rein in Kurdish separatist demonstrations in Sweden.
Finland joined the alliance earlier this year while negotiations with Sweden continued.
In May, Swedish lawmakers voted to tighten the country’s anti-terrorism laws, in an apparent attempt to convince Turkey that it would crack down on exiled members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ party, or PKK, as well as Kurdish militia groups and the Fetö organisation of the exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen.
