Turkey to Reconsider Sweden's NATO Membership Next Week

NATO Secretary General Meets with President Erdogan of Turkiye
Agreed to Resume Permanent Joint Mechanism Operations

Turkey has agreed to return to the negotiating table regarding Sweden's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, announced on the 4th (local time) that during a meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey, held in Istanbul, Turkey, they agreed to resume the operation of the 'Permanent Joint Mechanism (PJM)' next week, NATO reported.

The PJM is a trilateral consultative body launched following a memorandum of understanding signed among Turkey, Finland, and Sweden at the NATO summit held in Spain last June. The last meeting was held in March. It aims to discuss the implementation of preconditions demanded by Turkey, a NATO member, in exchange for its consent to Finland and Sweden's accession.

As NATO aims to resolve Sweden's accession process before this year's summit, this negotiation is expected to be a turning point. Unanimous consent from all member countries is required for NATO membership.

Earlier, Sweden applied for NATO membership along with Finland in May last year after the outbreak of the Ukraine war, but Turkey and Hungary have not given their consent.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In Turkey's case, it has withheld consent on the grounds that Sweden has not fulfilled prior commitments such as strengthening punishment against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Turkey designates as its greatest security threat and a terrorist organization.

Sweden is expected to explain its efforts to strengthen counter-terrorism measures demanded by Turkey and repeatedly request Turkey to promptly process the accession ratification.

NATO expects that if Turkey agrees to Sweden's NATO membership, Hungary will naturally follow up with subsequent procedures, accelerating the process.