Sweden ‘making progress’ in NATO talks with Türkiye

Stockholm, The Gulf Observer: Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Wednesday claimed talks with Türkiye about his country’s membership process to NATO are “going well,” clarifying that his previous remarks about fulfilling Stockholm’s commitments were “misunderstood,” according to media reports.

“We have the fullest respect for the fact that Türkiye and every other of the 30 NATO countries make their own domestic decisions on whether to ratify or not,” Kristersson told reporters in the capital Stockholm.

He pointed out that there was a “misunderstanding” about his previous comment on Türkiye’s demands.

On Sunday, the Swedish premier said that Stockholm cannot fulfill all of Ankara’s conditions for approving its application to join NATO. “Türkiye has confirmed that we have done what we said we would do, but they also say they want concessions that we can’t make, those we don’t want to make,” he had claimed.

However, Kristersson said Wednesday that he respected Ankara’s right to make its own decision on ratification.

“We have shown for Türkiye that we are doing exactly what we promised to do,” he said, adding: “It has been a very rapid process. We feel very strong support from countries.”

He also said that there are limits to what Sweden can do when it comes to extraditing individuals to Ankara, according to the Politico website.

Kristersson was also backed by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg who argued the Nordic country “deserved Ankara’s support for approval of its membership in the alliance even though Türkiye did not see the progress it expected.”