Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Monday that Brussels should approve Ankara’s accession to the European Union before his country approves Sweden’s bid for NATO membership. Erdogan made the comments at a news conference on Monday before he left for the NATO summit in Lithuania. Erdogan emphasized that Turkey has been waiting for admittance into the European Union for over 50 years and almost all NATO member countries are also European Union member countries.
NATO was hoping to admit Sweden to the alliance before its major summit begins on July 11, but Turkey blocked Sweden’s accession due to disagreements between the two countries. Turkey claims that Sweden allows members of recognized Kurdish terror groups to operate in Sweden. Turkey also alleges that the Swedish government has been complicit in far-right anti-Islam protests. Turkey has blocked Sweden’s membership bid for months, but this is the first time Erdogan has made a correlation between Turkey’s EU bid and Sweden’s NATO entry.
Read More: Erdogan links Sweden’s NATO bid to Turkey joining the EU
