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Sweden: PM says talks with Turkey over NATO bid ‘will take time’

May 24, 2022 at 1:32 pm

Prime Minister of Sweden Magdalena Andersson speaks before a meeting with President of Finland Sauli Niinisto and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) at the U.S. Capitol May 19, 2022 in Washington, DC. [Drew Angerer/Getty Images]

Sweden’s prime minister said on Monday that talks with Turkey regarding Ankara’s opposition to her country’s bid to join NATO “will take some time.” Magdalena Andersson told Swedish news agency TT that talks between Ankara and Stockholm continue without “interruption” in this regard.

“I had a good and positive meeting with President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan at the end of last week,” explained Andersson. She stressed that “bilateral and tripartite meetings between Turkey, Sweden and Finland will continue during the next stage.” Nevertheless, she said that the “talks will take time” and she is waiting “impatiently” for the talks with Turkey.

Last Wednesday, Sweden and Finland applied formally to join NATO, but Ankara voiced reservations about both bids due to their position on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK, which Turkey, the US and EU have designated as a terrorist organisation. All existing members of NATO, including Turkey, have the right to veto applications for membership.

According to Erdogan, neither Sweden nor Finland demonstrate explicitly a stand against terrorist organisations, a reference to the PKK and its affiliates. As such, he added, Ankara cannot agree to their accession to the organisation at this stage.

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