Türkiye is not in a position to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership, Le Figaro newspaper quotes Ibrahim Kalın, an adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The official insists that the bill will be rejected by lawmakers.
For its part, the Associated Press notes that according to Kalın, Turkey has no objection in principle to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, but the two countries still have to meet a number of Ankara’s conditions to do so.
“In general, we would like to see them in NATO,” he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
However, as Kalın noted, Stockholm and Helsinki have warned Ankara that they will need time. For example, they plan to pass laws by June to allow, among other things, stricter monitoring of Kurdish organisations.
“They tell us the laws will be ready by June. But maybe they can do something before that date,” explained an adviser to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
He also pointed out that the pace of Türkiye’s ratification of Sweden’s and Finland’s accession to NATO could be affected by the Turkish presidential elections. So far they are scheduled for June 18, but an earlier date is possible. The country’s parliament is dissolved before the elections. Therefore, MPs will not be able to consider the issue of NATO enlargement for some time.
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