Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is pretty much the most popular guy in town these days — if that town is Vilnius, Lithuania, and if you’re popular because everyone has to be nice to you so you’ll let a really good friend join your military alliance.
Sweden, by the way, is that really good friend. And ahead of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO)’s big summit next week, the Turkish leader has so far refused to drop his objections to Sweden joining NATO, potentially sidelining Stockholm’s membership indefinitely and spoiling NATO’s sought-after moment of unity and cohesion in Vilnius.
All NATO members must approve new ones, so Erdoğan’s opposition is effectively a veto. The Turkish president is not alone; Hungary’s Viktor Orbán is also holding out, but Hungary has signaled it won’t be the final roadblock. Erdoğan has continued to insist that Sweden has not done enough to crack down on people in Sweden with ties to Kurdish militants and other groups that Turkey has deemed terrorists.
Sweden has tried to appease Turkey, including passing a new anti-terrorism law that went into effect June 1. But Erdoğan’s definition of terrorists is pretty expansive, and often includes dissidents and others critical of his regime. And even if Turkey has a case, Sweden has to follow due process and rule of law and can’t just, say, extradite a bunch of people on a whim. A recent Koran-burning outside a Stockholm mosque has added to tensions, as Turkey interprets these as Sweden’s permissive attitude toward anti-Islamic protests rather than freedom of speech.
Sweden, alongside NATO allies, has been doing some furious diplomacy to try to persuade Turkey to approve Sweden’s bid. Swedish and Turkish officials talked Thursday, with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg saying they made “good progress” but issues remained unresolved. Stoltenberg will meet Monday with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Erdoğan, a day before the…
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