2023-07-10 14:42:21
Germany and the United States responded to statements by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which he linked Ankara’s approval of Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to the file of Turkey’s accession to the European Union.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz considered, on Monday, that Sweden’s accession to NATO had “no connection” with Turkey’s accession to the European Union.
He said during a press conference in Berlin: “They should not be considered as two related issues. Nothing prevents Sweden from joining NATO,” which the Turkish president has been blocking for months.
On the eve of the opening of the annual summit of the defense alliance in Vilnius, Erdogan said: “First, open the way for Turkey’s membership in the European Union, then we open it for Sweden, just as we opened the way for Finland.”
Schulz considered that Erdogan’s remarks had a “positive message” that granting the green light to Sweden’s membership “is possible in the near future.”
The White House also said that the United States has always supported Turkey’s aspirations to join the European Union and continues to support it, but made it clear that “these discussions are a matter between Turkey and members of the bloc.”
“Our focus is on Sweden, which is ready for NATO membership,” said a spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
Earlier Monday, the Swedish foreign minister expressed optimism that Turkey would drop its objections to Sweden’s membership in NATO, saying that the question regarding Stockholm’s accession “is when it will join, not whether it will join or not.”
He is expected to meet Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson later, before the two-day NATO summit.
An upcoming meeting between representatives of Sweden, Finland, NATO and Turkey
Ankara crisis and the European Union
Turkey is a candidate to join the European Union, but its membership application has stalled due to its democratic decline and disagreements with Cyprus, a member of the Union. Turkey first submitted its candidacy file to the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, in 1987. Ankara obtained the status of a candidate country to join the union in 1999, and officially launched membership negotiations with the bloc in 2005. Negotiations stalled in 2016 due to European concerns regarding human rights violations in Turkey. Turkey and Hungary are the only two countries in the alliance that have not yet ratified Sweden’s membership, despite measures taken by Stockholm, including amending its constitution and adopting a new anti-terrorism law.
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