By Agency Report
Senior officials from Sweden and Turkey arrived at NATO headquarters Thursday to examine Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s objections to the Nordic country joining the military alliance and to see what more, if anything, could be done to break the deadlock.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is leading the talks, which will involve the countries’ foreign ministers, intelligence chiefs and national security advisers. Top officials from Finland, which joined NATO in April after addressing Turkey’s concerns, planned to take part.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will be joined at the meetings by Erdogan’s chief adviser Akif Cagatay Kilic, Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Akcapar and the intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, according to a foreign ministry statement.
Senior officials from Sweden and Turkey arrived at NATO headquarters Thursday to examine Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s objections to the Nordic country joining the military alliance and to see what more, if anything, could be done to break the deadlock.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is leading the talks, which will involve the countries’ foreign ministers, intelligence chiefs and national security advisers. Top officials from Finland, which joined NATO in April after addressing Turkey’s concerns, planned to take part.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will be joined at the meetings by Erdogan’s chief adviser Akif Cagatay Kilic, Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Akcapar and the intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, according to a foreign ministry statement.
In a new development just before the meeting, a Turkish man was found guilty of attempted aggravated extortion, weapons possession and attempted terrorist financing, saying he was acting on behalf of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
The Stockholm District Court sentenced Yahya Güngör to a total of 4 1/2 years in prison for the crimes, after which he would be expelled from Sweden and banned from returning. It was the first time that a Swedish court sentenced someone for terrorist financing of the party, Judge Mans Wigen said.
Also known as PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party has waged an insurgency in southeast Turkey since 1984 and is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. It’s unclear whether the Swedish court action would have any impact on Erdogan’s thinking.
Hungary is also holding up approval of Sweden’s candidacy but has never clearly stated publicly what its concerns are. NATO officials expect that Hungary will follow suit once Turkey lifts its objections.
At a European Union summit last week, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he had spoken twice to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and “both times he has confirmed that Hungary will not delay.”
Turkey is a different matter. A Quran-burning protest, at which the media vastly outnumbered the participants, outside a mosque in Stockholm has fueled tensions. Police permitted the protest, citing freedom of speech, after a court overturned a ban on a similar burning of the Muslim holy book.
Erdogan criticized Sweden last week for allowing the protest. Turkish defense ministry spokesman Zeki Akturk condemned what he called a “vile attack on our sacred values that was carried out in the name of so-called ‘freedom of expression’.”
“The Quran-burning incident that took place of the first day of the Eid al-Adha holiday is an indication of how justified we were with our reservations (about Sweden),” Akturk said, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
It’s unclear exactly what more Turkey wants, but Thursday’s meeting is designed to flesh that out. Erdogan railed against Sweden while on the campaign trail for elections in May, and NATO officials had expected him to relent after he was reelected.
Erdogan is also seeking upgraded F-16 fighter jets from the U.S., but Biden has suggested that Sweden’s membership should be endorsed first.
NATO had hoped the problem would be resolved before its July 11-12 summit in Lithuania. Sweden’s entry would be a symbolically powerful moment and the latest indication that Russia’s war is driving countries to join the alliance. Those hopes have dimmed. NB: Culled from AP News
