Turkey’s Erdogan says Sweden shouldn’t expect to join NATO any time soon

By SUZAN FRASER and ROBERT BADENDIECK
Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that NATO should not bet on his country approving Sweden’s application to join the Western military alliance before a July summit. Sweden and Finland applied for membership together following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland became NATO’s 31st member in April, but Turkey says Sweden hasn’t fully addressed its security concerns. NATO wants to bring Sweden into the fold by the time the leaders of member nations meet in Lithuania’s capital on July 11-12. Turkish media quoted Erdogan as saying that Turkey’s attitude to Sweden’s accession wasn’t “positive.” Senior officials from NATO, Sweden, Finland and Turkey met in Ankara on Wednesday.