Sweden in NATO in the ‘interest of Türkiye’

2023-06-27 17:55

Anders Wiklund/TT

PolicyTT

All NATO members are safer when Sweden joins the alliance – including Turkey. This is the message of British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

He adds that it is in Turkey’s interest for Sweden to become a full member.

James Cleverly attends a press briefing with Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M) at Medaleen.

It is clear that Sweden should and should join NATO as soon as possible, says the British Foreign Secretary.

Sweden is still waiting for approval from Türkiye and Hungary.

He astutely asserts that Britain sees and recognizes the steps Sweden has taken to address the concerns expressed by “some allies”.

All NATO allies are safer when Sweden joins, Cleverly says, just as Sweden becomes safer as an ally.

No guarantees

As the so-called “invited” to NATO, Sweden has received security assurances from several countries, but so far it lacks the guarantees provided for in Article 5.

It cleverly states that the UK will continue to work hard for a speedy accession process.

We look forward to the flag ceremony, he said, followed by hard work by Sweden as a friend and ally.

Engin “Plan B”

The Swedish government still hopes that Sweden will become an accredited member of the NATO summit on July 11-12 in Vilnius.

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According to Tobias Bellström, there is no alternative “Plan B”.

Plan B is Plan A, says Billstrom.

Next week, NATO called an extraordinary meeting to try to speed up the Swedish process. It is scheduled to meet the foreign ministers of Sweden, Finland and Turkey in Brussels.

Niklas Svan/TT

Anja Haglund/TT

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