Turkey, which for months has blocked NATO membership bids by Sweden and Finland, has made several demands that Sweden cannot accept, Sweden’s prime minister said on Sunday.
“Turkey has confirmed that we have done what we said we would do, but they also said that they wanted something that they could not do, that they did not want, to give,” said Ulf Kristersson during a security conference that he also attended. by NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg.
“We believe that Turkey will make a decision, we just don’t know when,” he said, adding that it would depend on internal politics in Turkey as well as “Sweden’s capacity to show seriousness.”
Sweden and Finland broke with decades of military non-alignment and applied to join the US-led defense alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
But Turkey refused to approve the offer until both countries took steps, including joining Turkey’s fight against outlawed Kurdish militants.
Most of Turkey’s demands involve Sweden because of its stronger ties with the Kurdish diaspora.
Finland’s foreign minister says the country will join NATO along with its neighbors.
“Finland is in no hurry to join NATO, so we cannot wait until Sweden gets the green light,” Pekka Haavisto told reporters at a conference on Sunday.
At the end of December, Turkey praised Sweden in response to security concerns, but more pressure is needed to win Ankara’s full backing for Stockholm’s stalled NATO membership bid.