Sweden is on track to become NATO’s 32nd and newest member after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan unexpectedly dropped his objections Monday on the eve of a summit of the Western military alliance’s leaders in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Mr. Erdogan’s about-face after months of blocking the Nordic nation’s application is a major policy win for President Biden and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, both of whom strongly supported Stockholm’s bid for membership.
Finland, another long-neutral nation, joined NATO earlier this year, like Sweden reacting to the shock of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. NATO officials say the new members significantly strengthen the military capacities of the alliance.
NATO said in a statement that Mr. Erdogan met Monday with Mr. Stoltenberg and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden to discuss the country’s bid. Turkey has complained that Stockholm had failed to crack down on Kurdish exile groups inside Sweden that Ankara considers terrorist organizations and had sanctioned Ankara for past rights abuses.
Turkey has floated various conditions before it could give its approval, including being allowed to purchase U.S. military F-16 fighter jets and being put on the fast track to membership in the European Union. It was not clear what concessions Mr. Erdogan was able to secure in exchange for changing his stance, but Mr. Stoltenberg in his statement Monday said the alliance would be stepping up its counterterrorism efforts and creating a new NATO “special coordinator for counterterrorism.”
New NATO members must win unanimous approval from the 31 countries now in the alliance. Hungary has not yet officially endorsed Sweden’s bid, but officials in Budapest have said they would not stand in the way if Turkey dropped its objections.
The NATO statement said the Turkish and Swedish leaders agreed in their meeting Monday that “counterterrorism cooperation is a long-term effort, which will continue beyond Sweden’s accession to NATO.”
Sweden’s accession to NATO would mark another geopolitical defeat for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has justified his invasion of Ukraine in part as a protest against NATO’s expansion into eastern and central European countries.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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