Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has agreed to support Sweden’s bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO), a last-minute about-face that delivers a symbolic win for the military pact ahead of its summit on Tuesday.
Late Monday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Erdoğan would push for Sweden’s ratification into NATO. It was a pretty remarkable turnaround from Erdoğan, whose objections seemed to deepen earlier Monday, when he tried to tie Sweden’s NATO prospects to Turkey’s ascension to the European Union.
Sweden had already made a series of concessions to Turkey to persuade Erdoğan, and Stoltenberg, the United States, and other NATO allies had spent recent days trying to convince Erdoğan to end his months-long obstruction. Allies are gathering in Vilnius, Lithuania for this year’s NATO summit, and Turkey’s objections undermined the sense of cohesion the alliance sought to project. It also distracted from the other difficult diplomacy leaders are working on this week, most notably, the question of Ukraine’s future NATO membership.
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
Turkey’s parliament (along with Hungary’s) must still ratify Sweden’s membership, so this is not a totally done deal yet. But NATO can still claim a big victory — and, er, a totally natural photo-op — as the summit begins. This is more than just symbolism, though. This year, NATO expanded, and will gain two new members, bringing the total to 32. Finland (which officially joined in April) and Sweden had long pursued policies of nonalignment, cooperating with NATO, but staying firmly outside the pact. But…
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