NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Turkey has finally backed Sweden’s bid to join the military alliance and called Ankara’s decision “historic”.<\/p>\n
Taking to Twitter late Monday night, Stoltenberg said: “Glad to announce that after the meeting I hosted with (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan & Swedish PM (Ulf Kristersson), President Erdogan has agreed to forward Sweden’s accession protocol to the Grand National Assembly ASAP & ensure ratification.<\/p>\n
“This is an historic step which makes all NATO allies stronger & safer.”<\/p>\n
The announcement came following talks between the Turkish and Swedish leaders in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, where the two-day NATO Summit will begin on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Turkey had previously spent months blocking Sweden’s application, accusing it of hosting Kurdish militants, reports the BBC.<\/p>\n
As one of NATO’s 31 members, Turkey has a veto over any new country joining the group.<\/p>\n
In a separate statement, the NATO chief said Turkey and Sweden had addressed “Turkey’s legitimate security concerns” and as a result Sweden had amended its constitution, changed its laws, expanded its counter-terrorism operation against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and resumed arms exports to Turkey.<\/p>\n
Monday night’s announcement was welcomed by a host of NATO members.<\/p>\n
Reacting to the news, US President Joe Biden said he welcomed the commitment by his Turkish counterpart to proceed with “swift ratification”.<\/p>\n
“I stand ready to work with President Erdogan and Turkey on enhancing defence and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Kristersson and Sweden as our 32nd Nato ally,” a White House statement said.<\/p>\n
While German Foreign Minister Annalen Baerbock tweeted: “At 32, we’re all safer together,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Sweden joining would “make us all safer”.<\/p>\n
President of the EU Commission Ursula Von Der Leyen said: “A historic step in Vilnius. I welcome the important step that T\u00fcrkiye has promised to take, to ratify Sweden\u2019s accession to NATO.”<\/p>\n
Sweden and its eastern neighbour Finland announced their intention to join NATO in May last year in the wake of Russia launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.<\/p>\n
Finland formally joined he alliance in April this year.<\/p>\n
The main focus of the two-day NATO Summit is Ukraine’s membership which President Volodymr Zelensky has been pushing for months amid the ongoing war.<\/p>\n
But all NATO members agree that Ukraine cannot join the bloc during the war amid fears this would lead to a direct conflict with a nuclear-armed Russia, the BBC reported.<\/p>\n
Zelensky has admitted that he does not expect a membership until after the war, but he wants the Summit to give a “clear signal” on Ukraine’s bid.<\/p>\n