NATO negotiations with Turkiye to take some time, says Sweden

Negotiations with Turkiye on Sweden’s membership to NATO will take some more time, the Swedish Prime Minister said Monday, and Anadolu News Agency reports.

Magdalena Andersson told Swedish official news agency, TT, that her meeting with Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was “good and positive”.

“Sweden and Finland will continue bilateral and tripartite negotiations with Turkiye in the near future but these will take some time,” she said.

Stressing she was looking forward to the upcoming negotiations with Ankara, Andersson said Sweden is one of the first countries that classified the PKK as terrorists.

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO last week — a decision spurred by Russia’s war on Ukraine, which began on 24 February.

READ: NATO calls for considering Turkiye’s concerns over expansion

But Turkiye, a long-standing member of the alliance, has voiced objections to the membership bids, criticising the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people. The YPG is PKK’s Syrian offshoot.