ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey mentioned on Monday that the European Union ought to open the way in which for Turkey to hitch the bloc earlier than Turkey permits Sweden to hitch NATO, including a stunning new situation that might additional stall the army alliance’s efforts to develop.
Mr. Erdogan’s newest demand got here a day earlier than the opening of NATO’s two-day annual summit, the place leaders, together with President Biden, had hoped to safe unanimous approval from member states to permit Sweden to turn out to be the thirty second member.
That consequence now seems more and more unlikely, with Mr. Erdogan posing the principle impediment to Sweden’s membership.
“First, clear the way for Turkey in the European Union, then we will clear the way for Sweden as we did for Finland,” Mr. Erdogan instructed reporters earlier than touring to the NATO summit.
It was not instantly clear how leaders of the European Union or NATO would reply to the brand new demand, particularly since they’re separate organizations with many overlapping members however totally different functions. Turkey utilized to hitch the European Union in 1987, however the course of has proceeded slowly, with nearly no progress since 2016.
Sweden utilized to hitch NATO final 12 months, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. All NATO nations should conform to admit new members, a rule that has given Mr. Erdogan super leverage to demand concessions.
Turkey has accused Sweden of offering a permissive atmosphere for dissidents whom Turkey considers terrorists, together with pro-Kurdish activists and members of a non secular group that Turkey has accused of planning a failed coup towards Mr. Erdogan in 2016.
In current months, Sweden has made efforts to fulfill Turkey’s calls for, amending its structure, passing new counterterrorism laws and agreeing to extradite a number of Turks who stand accused of crimes in Turkey. But Swedish courts have blocked different extraditions, and Swedish officers have mentioned that they can not override their nation’s free-speech protections.
Mr. Erdogan has continued to say that Sweden should do extra.
A brand new complication arose late final month after a person publicly burned a Quran at a protest in Stockholm on a serious Muslim vacation. Mr. Erdogan criticized Sweden for allowing the protest and mentioned that the Swedish authorities wanted to combat Islamophobia, regardless that that had not been among the many points Sweden had agreed with Turkey to deal with.
Hungary is the one different NATO member that has but to approve Sweden’s bid, however Hungarian officers have mentioned that if Turkey’s place modifications, they might not impede the method. Finland utilized concurrently Sweden, however overcame Turkey’s preliminary objections and joined the alliance in April.
By linking Turkey’s drive to hitch the European Union with Sweden’s becoming a member of NATO, Mr. Erdogan threw one other wrench into the alliance’s negotiations lower than 24 hours earlier than NATO leaders are anticipated to convene in Vilnius, Lithuania, for his or her annual summit. On Sunday, President Biden spoke with Mr. Erdogan and instructed him of “his desire to welcome Sweden into NATO as soon as possible,” in line with a terse account of the decision supplied by the White House.
Before touring to the summit, Mr. Erdogan mentioned once more on Monday that Sweden couldn’t anticipate to hitch till it had met all of Turkey’s calls for with respect to terrorism.
“Nobody should expect compromise nor understanding from me,” he mentioned.
Source: www.nytimes.com