NATO summit: Erdogan continues to resist Sweden and Finland joining
Created: 06/28/2022, 11:08 am
By: Christian Stör
Two topics dominate the NATO summit in Madrid: the Ukraine war and Turkey's blockade of Sweden and Finland.
NATO summit in Madrid: The heads of state and government of the 30 NATO countries are meeting in the Spanish capital until June 30th.
In focus: This summit is also under the influence of the Ukraine war.
Accession of Sweden and Finland: Can Recep Tayyip Erdogan's blockade be solved?
Madrid – One summit is chasing the other these days.
But the topic remains basically the same everywhere.
The NATO summit will also be under the influence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: the military alliance wants to decide on a new strategic concept in Madrid.
Even before that, however, the heads of state and government of the 30 NATO countries must try to solve another problem.
How can the Turkish blockade on the admission of Sweden and Finland into NATO be broken?
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will meet Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan knows that his own party is behind him on the question of Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
© ADEM ALTAN/afp
NATO summit in Madrid: Erdogan opposes the accession of Sweden and Finland
On the day before the start of the NATO summit, he also refrained from showing any willingness to compromise on NATO's northern expansion.
"Tomorrow (June 28) we will go to the NATO summit in Spain and do everything necessary in accordance with the rights and interests of our country," Erdogan said on Monday, according to the government.
The "hypocrisy" towards "terrorist organizations" will be explained to the interlocutors with "documents, information and pictures".
Erdogan accuses Sweden and Finland of supporting "terrorist organizations".
Erdogan refers to the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK and the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG, which Sweden and Finland allegedly support - which both countries reject.
Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in mid-May.
NATO summit in Madrid: Sweden hopes for a quick solution to the dispute with Turkey
Meanwhile, Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson is hoping for a quick solution.
"I very much hope that this dialogue can be successfully concluded in the near future, preferably before the summit," Andersson said on the sidelines of a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels.
Then the accession process of Sweden and Finland could start immediately.
Stoltenberg himself hopes to be able to make progress.
"But I won't make any promises." So the situation could remain unresolved even after the NATO summit.
(cs/dpa)