Despite efforts, they still disagree on the question of Sweden joining NATO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (r) and Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (archive photo).
(Photo: dpa)
Brussels, Ankara It was a triumph for Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Despite the economic crisis and allegations of corruption, he clearly won his re-election in May. In NATO it was hoped that the autocratic Turkish president would pursue a more moderate foreign policy after this strengthening. This would be particularly important for Sweden, which urgently wants to join NATO.
But hopes have so far been dashed. A few days before the NATO summit in Lithuania, high-ranking representatives from Sweden, Turkey and Finland came to the defense alliance’s Brussels headquarters on Thursday to discuss Turkey’s blockade of Sweden’s accession. There was no sign of a breakthrough.
And that’s not the only problem with the alliance with Turkey. In the NATO military committee, for example, Ankara is blocking the new defense plans that the alliance partners intend to officially adopt at their summit in Vilnius next week and that are intended to form the core of the new deterrence strategy against Russia.
Read on now
Get access to this and every other article in the
Web and in our app free of charge for 4 weeks.
Further
Read on now
Get access to this and every other article in the
web and in our app.
Further