It recently became clear that Turkey, Sweden and NATO have entered into an agreement. Jens Stoltenberg said this at a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. The agreement means that Erdogan will put forward a proposal for the ratification of Swedish NATO membership to the Turkish parliament. Erdogan will also work to get the agreement ratified in parliament. – This is a historic step that makes all NATO allies stronger, according to Stoltenberg. Stoltenberg says that as part of the agreement, NATO will establish its own special coordinator to overcome terrorism. It was only Stoltenberg who took his place on the podium after the parties had agreed. AGREED: Stoltenberg said that at a meeting between Turkish President Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson, that the parties have entered into an agreement. Photo: Nato Kristersson: – A good day for Sweden – I am very happy that we have joined hands around a common statement. It has been a good day for Sweden, and now the rest of this summit awaits. This was said by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at a separate press conference in Vilnius on Monday evening. HAPPY: Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson says it has been a good day for Sweden. Photo: Reuters – We will establish a new bilateral security dialogue, a kind of cooperation format, said Kristersson. The Swedish prime minister said he and Erdogan had discussed Turkey’s relationship with the EU. – From the Swedish side, we still support closer cooperation between Turkey and the EU. It could be about a modernized customs union, and also about visa issues, said Kristersson. – Latvian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre says that a united Nordic region will make NATO stronger. – It is important, positive and gratifying for Sweden, Norway, the Nordic countries and for NATO that Swedish membership in the alliance has been clarified, after agreement between Stoltenberg, Erdogan and Kristersson this evening. A united Nordic in NATO will make the alliance stronger and the Nordics safer. – He was an easy man. I think the Swedes are happy, says Støre, right after he met Sweden’s prime minister on Monday evening. On Tuesday, the NATO summit starts in Vilnius in Lithuania, which will last for two days. Turkey wants EU membership – Explore possibilities going forward to bring Turkish-EU cooperation back, and give new life to our relationship. This is how EU President Charles Michel describes the meeting he had with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today. Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, says he supports Turkey’s ambition to become an EU member. Turkish President Erdogan has stated several times that he wants to join the EU. Now he is blocking Swedish NATO membership. Photo: Francisco Seco / AP This happened after Erdogan again asked for talks about EU membership: – First, open the way for Turkey’s membership in the EU, then we will open for Sweden, just as we have opened for Finland, says Erdogan , according to the AFP news agency. Turkey has for several decades expressed its desire to join the EU, at regular intervals. In 1999, Turkey gained candidate status, but the road from the doorstep to the warmth of the EU has been difficult and long. It was the war in Ukraine that actualized the membership. Sweden and Finland have been non-aligned countries, but after Russia went to war against Ukraine, both countries applied for NATO membership. Turkey has been a member of NATO since 1952, and initially blocked both applications. In March, President Erdogan finally agreed to Finland. Erdogan gave Turkish approval to Finnish NATO membership in March this year. Photo: Burhan Ozbilici / AP But Turkey has blocked Sweden’s NATO application, until no. Earlier, Erdogam presented a list of demands to Sweden, in addition to asking for negotiations for Turkish EU membership. Koran burning in Sweden is among the things that have seen a stop to the Turkish yes. – If they do not show that respect, they cannot expect any support from us in the NATO issue, Erdogan said after the far-right politician Rasmus Paludan organized the burning of the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Sweden. In addition to Koran burning, Erdogan blames Sweden for harboring “PKK terrorists”. Erdogan has a list of names that he wants handed over to Turkey. Several Norwegian parties are critical of such an extradition agreement. Several countries reacted to the Koran burning in Sweden. Here, the Swedish flag is burned in Lahore in Pakistan. Photo: ARIF ALI / AFP The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is a political party, labeled a terrorist by the EU, the US and Turkey. The party, which was founded in 1978 with the aim of establishing its own Kurdish state, has been fighting against Turkish authorities since the 1980s. They do not call themselves a terrorist group, but say that they work for Kurdish rights and a Kurdish state. Two different issues German Chancellor Olaf Scolz reacts to Erdogan linking Swedish NATO membership with Turkish EU membership. According to the AFP news agency, Scholz says that Sweden meets all the requirements for NATO membership, and that the issue surrounding Turkish EU membership cannot be linked to that. Matthey Millew, spokesperson for the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says the same: – We believe that there are separate issues. During the two-day meeting, the NATO countries will also discuss how Ukraine can approach membership in the alliance, and what security guarantees the country can get once Russia’s warring ends. Hear also:
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Sweden and Turkey have agreed on Swedish NATO membership – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
