Erdogan requires relaunching negotiations for Turkey's EU accession as a condition to approve Sweden's NATO membership

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Monday that he would support Sweden's membership in the NATO alliance on the condition that the European Union renews negotiations for Turkey's accession to the bloc.

Erdogan, in statements televised before his departure to participate in the NATO summit in Lithuania, said, 'First, open the way for Turkey's membership in the European Union, then we will open it for Sweden, just as we opened the way for Finland.'

He added, 'That's what I told President Joe Biden,' when the two presidents spoke by phone on Sunday.

Turkey submitted its candidacy file for the European Economic Community, the precursor to the European Union, in 1987.

It was granted candidate country status in 1999 and officially launched membership negotiations with the bloc in 2005.

The negotiations stalled in 2016 due to European concerns over human rights violations in Turkey.

Erdogan stated, 'I want to emphasize one fact. Turkey has been waiting at the gates of the European Union for fifty years.'

He added that 'almost all NATO members are members of the European Union. And now I am addressing those countries that have made Turkey wait for over 50 years, and I will address them again in Vilnius.'"

 

AFP