Blinken Urges Turkey To Finalize Sweden’s NATO Accession

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday urged Turkey to immediately finalize Sweden’s accession to NATO, saying the Nordic country had already taken significant steps to address Ankara’s objections to its membership.

Blinken also rejected the suggestion that the Biden administration was linking Turkey’s approval of Sweden’s NATO accession to the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara, although he said the U.S. Congress was. A day before, the U.S. President also alluded to a link.

Speaking at a joint press conference with the Swedish Prime Minister in Lulea, northern Sweden, Blinken said Washington was going to continue to work to complete Sweden’s accession in time for a mid-July NATO summit that will bring together alliance heads of state.

“We believe the time is now and there’s no reason for not moving forward,” Blinken said. “Turkiye has raised important and legitimate concerns. Sweden and Finland both addressed those concerns.”

“We look forward to this process being completed in the weeks ahead. We have no doubt that it can be, and it should be, and we expect it to be,” he said.

His comments came hours after Turkey called on Sweden to prosecute those responsible for projecting the flag of an outlawed group onto the parliament building in Stockholm on the day of Turkish elections that extended President Tayyip Erdogan’s rule.

Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership last year, ditching long-held policies of military non-alignment following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Bids for membership must be approved by all NATO members, but Turkey and Hungary have yet to approve Sweden’s bid.

Turkey ratified Finland’s NATO accession in late March but says Sweden harbours members of militant groups it considers terrorists.

Reuters/Shakirat Sadiq