Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan informed NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday that Turkey will not formally ratify Finland and Sweden’s participation in the alliance unless the two nations take the required “measures.”
Ankara has resisted ratifying the two Nordic countries’ membership in NATO despite an agreement in June, accusing them of providing a safe haven for illegal Kurdish rebels it considers “terrorists.”
“President Erdogan noted that the steps to be taken by Sweden and Finland would determine how fast the approval process… would go and when it would be concluded,” the Turkish presidency said.
Erdogan and Stoltenberg had an exclusive, press-free meeting in Istanbul.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in May, Finland and Sweden abandoned their long-standing military non-alignment and rushed to join NATO.
Erdogan, though, vowed to thwart their efforts and pressed for concessions, which led to a June agreement between Turkey, Finland, and Sweden that contained clauses on extraditions and information sharing.
Ulf Kristersson, the next Swedish prime minister, will travel to Ankara on Tuesday to meet with Erdogan in an effort to win over Turkey.
Stoltenberg “welcomed the major, concrete steps already taken by both countries to put the memorandum into practice, and stressed that their accession will make NATO stronger”, the alliance said in a statement on Friday.
On Thursday, the NATO secretary general said Finland and Sweden’s accession was important “to send a clear message to Russia” during a press conference with the Turkish foreign minister.
All 30 NATO member states except Turkey and Hungary have ratified the accession of Sweden and Finland.
New members to the alliance require unanimous approval.
