Yury Kobzar20:29, 23.02.23

Turkey has agreed to a new round of negotiations with the delegations of candidate countries in NATO.

Progress has been made in the negotiations on Sweden’s accession to NATO . The country can become a member of the Alliance by July. This was stated by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in an interview with the Reuters agency .

According to him, an agreement was reached with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a new round of negotiations with the delegations of Sweden and Finland already in mid-March. The parties should discuss the difficulties that have arisen between the countries in connection with their plans to join NATO.

“I see progress. My goal is to make Finland and Sweden full members before the NATO summit,” Stoltenberg said.VIDEO OF THE DAYPlay Video

It should be noted that the next summit of the Alliance is scheduled for July 11-12 in Lithuania. 

The problem of Sweden joining NATO

In May last year, Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership. However, Turkey threatened to block the process because Turkish dissidents, whom Ankara considers terrorists, have taken refuge in these countries.

An additional factor for Ankara’s dissatisfaction is the periodic anti-Turkish rallies and actions held in Sweden . 

At the same time, some experts believe that the provocations that provoke Erdoğan’s anger are arranged by Russian agents in Sweden – to disrupt the expansion of NATO.

(C)UNIAN 2023