Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to back Sweden’s bid to join NATO, the military alliance’s chief says.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday that Erdogan agreed to forward Sweden’s membership bid for the alliance to Turkey’s parliament.
After talks in Vilnius, Lithuania, with Erdogan and Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Stoltenberg said Turkey had agree to move forward.
"This is an historic step which makes all NATO Allies stronger and safer," NATO’s secretary general said.
Sweden, along with neighboring Finland, abandoned its longstanding military neutrality and applied for NATO membership after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
But Stockholm's entry into the military alliance has so far been blocked by two members, Turkey and Hungary.
Earlier on Monday, Erdogan added to the list of demands he wants fulfilled in exchange for finally backing Sweden's accession to NATO.
Speaking just hours before meeting Kristersson, Erdogan suggested if the European Union wanted Sweden in NATO, it should let Turkey into the EU.
Membership talks between the bloc and Ankara began in 2005 but were put on hold indefinitely in 2016 after years of democratic backsliding, human rights abuses, and provocations under Erdogan.
After the meeting between Stoltenberg, Erdogan and Kristersson, the three said, "Sweden will actively support efforts to reinvigorate Turkey's EU accession process, including modernization of the EU-Turkey Customs Union and visa liberalization," the statement said.
