Surprisingly, Turkey accepts Sweden into NATO
In a rather surprising move – one that is sure to shock Putin – Turkey agreed on Monday to ask its parliament to advance Sweden's candidacy for NATO membership.
Bloomberg first reported, according to a Turkish official, that the decision came after receiving assurances on key demands, including Stockholm's approach to supporters of Kurdish separatists operating in its territory.
The Turkish official said there had also been progress in meeting their demands to lift defense-related sanctions and that EU officials had agreed to speed up accession negotiations, including on joining the customs union and on the visa-free travel authorization for its citizens.
Erdogan's change of stance came hours before a summit of NATO leaders in Vilnius, Lithuania, where alliance members had initially hoped to welcome Sweden as a new member.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, a last-minute solution to the stalemate would allow NATO to enter the summit after having settled the main differences, projecting unity against Russian aggression.
It would also pave the way for an expansion over more than 1,000 miles of land straddling the Baltic Sea, shifting the balance of power in northern Europe and creating a potential choke point for Russian warships and aircraft in the region.
Glad to announce that after the meeting I hosted with @RTErdogan & @SwedishPM , President Erdogan has agreed to forward #Sweden 's accession protocol to the Grand National Assembly ASAP & ensure ratification. This is an historic step which makes all #NATO Allies stronger & safer. pic.twitter.com/D7OeR5Vgba
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) July 10, 2023
Stoltenberg then confirmed the news: there will be a 32nd member state added to NATO, as we now await Russia's response which will surely be deeply unhappy and frustrated.
Previous statements by Moscow regarding Sweden's potential NATO entry had involved measures to strengthen Russian defensive positions along the Scandinavian border region, especially the Finnish border, as well as in the Far North region, a remote Arctic border area with the Sweden.
What is clear is that the “unintended consequences” stemming from the conflict in Ukraine have continued to escalate and things are escalating by the day and by the week.
And now, to make matters worse, some (though not all) NATO member states are pushing for Ukraine's entry into the military alliance. The US has resisted, however, with Biden saying on Monday that this would have to wait until after the war, as NATO's Article 5 would trigger a huge conflict with Russia. Will Biden's pledge not to consider admitting Ukraine into the alliance soften the blow for Moscow (as far as Sweden's big development is concerned)? This was perhaps the key to some back-channel "assurance," perhaps.
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The article Surprisingly Turkey accepts Sweden in NATO comes from Scenari Economics .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/a-sorpresa-la-turchia-accetta-la-svezia-nella-nato/ on Tue, 11 Jul 2023 06:00:57 +0000.