US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was in Brussels to attend a meeting of NATO defence ministers, said Sweden’s accession would bring their modernised military capabilities into the alliance and expand maritime and aerial awareness. “It will enhance our ability to be aware of what’s going on around us,” he said in a press conference.
Sweden, which with Finland applied for membership into the alliance last year after the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine, hopes to convince an obstinate Turkey to ratify their bid. Turkey approved Finland’s request to join the alliance in April. Accession requires a unanimous decision of the member states, a condition Turkey has used as leverage to pressure both countries into cracking down on Kurds with alleged ties to the PKK.
Austin said he had a brief meeting with Turkey’s new Defence Minister Yasar Guler in Brussels. It was an “introductory meeting just to congratulate him on being installed as minister of defence,” said Austin. “Of course, we seize every opportunity to encourage him to move forward and approve Sweden’s accession.”
Following a three-hour tripartite meeting between officials from Sweden, Turkey, and NATO on Wednesday in Ankara, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said there has been “some progress.”
“We will continue to work and we all will welcome Sweden as a full member as soon as possible,” he said, adding that Stockholm might join the alliance before the NATO leaders’ summit in Vilnius in July.
Erdogan has accused Sweden of harbouring and supporting groups labelled as terrorists in Turkey, including the PKK. As part of its demands, Turkey is seeking the extradition of alleged PKK members in Sweden, with Erdogan saying there are as many as 130.
On Wednesday Erdogan slammed Sweden for allowing demonstrations by PKK supporters. “What do the police do? The job of the police force is to stop them. … There are already rights given to the police force in laws and constitutions. Use these rights,” he told journalists on his way back to Turkey from Azerbaijan, demanding more from Sweden if it wants Turkey to accept them into NATO.
On June 6, Sweden’s top court approved the extradition of a PKK supporter to Turkey where he was convicted of a drugs-related crime in 2013. The court said it had received reassurances from Turkey that the man was not being prosecuted for the crimes of “propaganda for a terrorist organisation” or “insulting the Turkish president.”
In November, Stockholm passed a law that authorises the prosecution of individuals for the crime of “participating in a terrorist organisation,” likely to appease Turkey. The law came into effect on June 1.
