ISTANBUL — Sweden’s pending NATO membership appears to be stuck between the uncompromising positions of Ankara, Stockholm and Washington, according to experts and Turkish bureaucratic sources.
As Ankara continues to stick to its guns on the Nordic nation’s bid to join the Atlantic alliance, it's unclear whether Sweden will become a NATO member in line with Washington’s and the majority of the bloc’s members' expectations before the alliance’s annual summit in the Lithuanian capital on July 11-12.
Neutral in world affairs since 1815, Sweden applied to join NATO along with its eastern neighbor, Finland, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Before Stockholm and Helsinki filed their applications in May 2022, many observers expected that the two nations would see a swift acceptance into the alliance. However, there was opposition from Turkey. Ankara has claimed that the two countries — particularly Sweden — are harboring members, recruiters and fundraisers of what it deems terror groups. In addition to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which remains on the terror lists of many European countries and the United States, these groups include the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Unity Party (PYD), the main US ally in the anti-Islamic State coalition in Syria, as well as the followers of the US-based Sunni preacher Fethullah Gulen. Gulen is accused of masterminding the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.
After lifting a de facto defense sales embargo against the country — one of a series of demands tabled by Ankara in return for the Nordic expansion of the alliance — Finland became a member in early April. However, Hungary and Turkey are still dragging their feet in a process that requires consensus among all NATO member states.
