Turkey has decided to drop its objection to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, breaking the deadlock that has hung over a leaders’ conference in Madrid amid Europe’s biggest security crisis in decades, caused by the Ukraine conflict.
After heated discussions behind the scenes, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan decided on Tuesday to drop his objections to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, and as a result, the alliance will soon welcome both countries as full members.
Greece has expressed its contentment with the excellent conclusion NATO, which will come as a surprise to the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, who has been an outspoken opponent of Greece’s accession to the alliance.
According to sources inside the Greek government, Mr. Erdogan’s discussions on the membership of Sweden and Finland were concluded in a very short amount of time. The deal that was made will not impact either the Greek side or the ties that the European Union has with Turkey.
The admission of Finland and Sweden as members of NATO not only boosts the position of Greece but also the European sector of the Alliance as a whole.
The Turkish President had previously shown reluctance to cast a vote for the accession of the Nordic countries to NATO, accusing those nations of providing safe haven and support for terrorists.
However, late on Tuesday evening, Erdogan’s administration announced that it had decided to support their efforts to join, stating that Ankara had “gotten what it wanted.”
This decision was made after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg mediated discussions between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the leaders of Sweden and Finland in Madrid.
“I’m pleased to announce that we now have an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO,” he said. “It’s been a long road, but we’ve finally made it.”
He continued by saying that the agreement “addresses Turkey’s concerns, including those surrounding arms exports and the fight against terrorism.”
On Tuesday, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson hailed a “very good agreement” with Turkey, but she insisted that her country had not made too many concessions to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The author writes that it is important for Sweden and Finland to take the next step toward becoming full members of NATO. But it’s also a very important step for NATO because our countries will be security providers within NATO,” Andersson said in an interview with AFP. “This is a very significant step for NATO.”
Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, expressed his satisfaction with the agreement. Johnson stated on his Twitter account that the addition of Sweden and Finland would make their “brilliant alliance” stronger and safer.
Sweden and Finland went into the NATO conference with the mindset that Turkey may not withdraw its objections until after the summit officially wraps up on Thursday.
“But 30 parliaments must ratify it, and you never know,” Andersson told the Associated Press.
Turkey welcomed Tuesday’s accord as a victory, claiming the Nordic countries agreed to tighten down on organizations Ankara considers a danger to national security, such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and its Syrian offshoot. They also agreed to “not impose embargo limitations in the sector of military industry” on Turkey and to take “concrete actions on the extradition of terrorist convicts,” according to the statement.
Turkey has asked that Finland and Sweden extradite sought people and abolish the weapons embargo imposed during Turkey’s military invasion into northeast Syria in 2019.
In response, Turkey committed to “back Finland and Sweden’s offer to join NATO at the 2022 Madrid Summit.”
The specifics of what was agreed upon were unclear. Amineh Kakabaveh, an independent Swedish legislator of Kurdish heritage on whose backing the government relies for a parliamentary majority, said it was “worrying that Sweden isn’t clarifying what pledges it has made to Erdogan.”
Andersson refuted claims that Sweden and Finland had given too much ground.
When asked whether the Swedish people would perceive the deal as a surrender on topics such as extraditions of Kurdish militants considered terrorists by Ankara, Andersson stated, “they will understand that this is important for Sweden’s security.”
President Joe BidenThe President of the United States thanked the three countries for completing a “critical step.”
In the midst of speculation regarding the United States’ participation in breaking the impasse, a senior administration official said that Washington made no concessions to Turkey in order to persuade Ankara to accept a deal. However, the person said that the United States played a critical role in bringing the two countries together, and Biden called with Erdogan Tuesday morning at the request of Sweden and Finland to assist in the negotiations.
The decision occurred at the start of a major meeting, overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, that will chart the alliance’s trajectory for the next several years. The summit began with a luncheon for leaders given by Spain’s King Felipe VI in the 18th-century Royal Palace of Madrid.
Meetings on Wednesday and Thursday will focus on bolstering defences against Russia and assisting Ukraine.
The Russian invasion on February 24 rattled European security, bringing city bombardment and brutal ground warfare back to the continent. NATO, which had started to shift its attention to non-state challenges, has been forced to face a hostile Russia once again.
Biden said NATO was “as united and galvanized as I think we have ever been.”
A Russian missile strike Monday on a shopping mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk was a grim reminder of the war’s horrors. Some saw the timing, as Group of Seven leaders met in Germany just ahead of the NATO gathering, as a message from Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr ZelenskyyThe French president, who is due to address NATO leaders by video on Wednesday, called the strike on the mall a “terrorist” act.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko traveled to Madrid to urge the alliance to provide his country with “whatever it takes” to stop the war.
“Wake up, guys. This is happening now. You are going to be next. This is going to be knocking on your door just in the blink of an eye,” Klitschko told reporters at the summit venue.
Stoltenberg said the meeting would chart a blueprint for the alliance “in a more dangerous and unpredictable world” — and that meant “we have to invest more in our defense,” Stoltenberg said. Just nine of NATO’s 30 members meet the organization’s target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense. Spain, which is hosting the summit, spends just half that.
Stoltenberg said Monday that NATO allies will agree at the summit to increase the strength of the alliance’s rapid reaction force nearly eightfold, from 40,000 to 300,000 troops. The troops will be based in their home nations but dedicated to specific countries on NATO’s eastern flank, where the alliance plans to build up stocks of equipment and ammunition.
Beneath the surface, there are tensions within NATO over how the war will end and what, if any, concessions Ukraine should make to end the fighting.
There are also differences on how hard a line to take on China in NATO’s new Strategic Concept — its once-a-decade set of priorities and goals. The last document, published in 2010, didn’t mention China at all.
The new concept is expected to set out NATO’s approach on issues from cybersecurity to climate change, the growing economic and military reach of China, and the rising importance and power of the Indo-Pacific region. For the first time, the leaders of Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand are attending the summit as guests.
Some European members are wary of the tough U.S. line on Beijing and don’t want China cast as an opponent.
NATO intends to rank Russia as its top danger in the Strategic Concept.
The commencement of the summit was marked by the release of satellite photos and the coordinates of the White House, the Pentagon, and the government buildings in London, Paris, and Berlin by Russia’s national space agency, Roscosmos.
At the conference, NATO was expected to label Russia an adversary, according to the agency, which also stated it was releasing specific locations.
