IRIA News

Sweden’s Prime Minster Ulf Kristersson arrived in Washington on July 5, 2023, to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden. The meeting focused on finding ways to persuade Turkey to approve Sweden’s bid to join NATO ahead of the alliance’s summit next week.

“Sweden is going to make our alliance stronger and has the same value set that we have in NATO,” Biden told Kristersson ahead of their bilateral meeting at the White House. “I’m really looking, anxiously looking, forward for your membership.”

Biden underscored that Sweden’s accession into the alliance would secure Europe on the northern and eastern front against Russia. “Sweden is a capable and committed partner. Together, we’re preparing our relationship for even further, including advancing the bilateral partnership agreement we’re talking about.”

The U.S. president reiterated Washington’s support for Stockholm’s bid to join NATO by saying that “the United States fully, fully, fully supports Sweden’s membership in NATO.

Sweden’s Kristersson thanked the U.S. President for his invitation and the remarks as well as his support for Sweden’s accession into the NATO alliance. “We highly appreciate your strong support for Sweden’s NATO accession,” he said. He further added that “We do seek common protection. But we also do think that we have things to contribute with, to the security provided for the whole of NATO.”

The “United States fully supports Sweden’s membership in NATO,” said US President Biden as he met with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at the White House in a show of support for 🇸🇪 to join the NATO alliance. pic.twitter.com/sUxMd3y3GH

— IRIA (@IRIA_Research) July 6, 2023

Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the emerging security crisis in Europe, Sweden and Finland scrapped their decades-long policy of military nonalignment and applied to join the NATO alliance as permanent members. Both nations required unanimous approval from all the existing NATO member states. Finland was fully accepted as a NATO member earlier this year in April, however, Sweden’s application has not been ratified by Turkey and Hungary.

Ankara has accused Stockholm of harboring terrorists and being lenient towards the Kurdish organizations and their leadership that have found refuge in Sweden after being declared terrorist groups by Turkey.

Turkey has demanded reforms in Sweden’s anti-terrorism to which Sweden agreed. However, Turkey has shown its reservations about Sweden’s progress in fulfilling the requirements that had been agreed upon by both sides before Ankara agreed to Stockholm’s accession into the NATO alliance.

In January 2023, Turkey suspended the talks as part of the Permanent Joint Mechanism that was established by the Trilateral Memorandum signed in Madrid on the margins of the 2022 NATO Summit.

Turkey’s opposition

As the leaders of the NATO alliance are gearing up for the annual summit next week in Lithuania, the pressure has been building up in Ankara to approve Sweden’s accession into the alliance. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signaled earlier this week that his country is not ready to ratify Sweden’s NATO bid. He also criticized a recent Quran-burning incident in Sweden and called out Stockholm’s alleged inaction against terrorist organizations and Islamophobia as one of Turkey’s “red lines”.

Erdogan has also expressed his concerns about the U.S. linking Ankara’s ratification with Turkey’s $20 billion purchase of 40 F-16 fighter jets and nearly 80 modernization kits for its air force’s existing warplanes. Biden spoke with Erdogan in May 2023, where he talked about Sweden’s NATO membership and Turkey’s request for F-16 fighter jets. Although Biden did not directly link the two issues in his call with the Turkish counterpart, he signaled that the issue of the F-16 fighter jets is currently stuck at the U.S. Congress which has authority to block major weapons sales.

The U.S. Congress and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairperson Bob Menendez continue to oppose the sale for reasons beyond NATO enlargement. Menendez also believes that the provision of fighter jets to Ankara would further intensify the tensions between Turkey and Greece, two NATO members stated that have a territorial dispute in the Aegean Sea.

In a last-minute push for Sweden’s accession, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will meet with senior officials from Turkey, Sweden, and Finland ahead of the NATO summit next week.