NATO negotiations with Turkiye to take some time, says Sweden

STOCKHOLM

Negotiations with Turkiye on Sweden’s membership to NATO will take some more time, the Swedish prime minister said Monday.

Magdalena Andersson told Swedish official news agency TT that her meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was “good and positive.”

“Sweden and Finland will continue bilateral and tripartite negotiations with Turkiye in the near future but these will take some time,” she said.

Stressing she was looking forward to the upcoming negotiations with Ankara, Andersson said Sweden is one of the first countries that classified the PKK as terrorists.

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO last week -- a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24.

But Turkiye, a longstanding member of the alliance, has voiced objections to the membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people. The YPG is PKK’s Syrian offshoot.

*Writing by Merve Berker