NATO chief says ‘the time has come’ for Turkey to admit Sweden

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that Turkey should approve Sweden’s stalled application for membership “as soon as possible”.

“Sweden has fulfilled its promise. The time has come for Turkey to finalize the accession process,” Stoltenberg said.

Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO members that have not yet ratified Sweden’s membership, more than 18 months after its application.

Turkey’s parliament this month began discussions on Sweden’s membership, after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan initiated the process following an agreement at the NATO summit in July.

NATO’s other 29 allies had hoped to formally welcome Sweden into the alliance at a foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels this week.

However, this process is still taking place at the committee level of the Turkish parliament.

“It’s no secret that we would have liked the ratification process to be faster,” Stoltenberg said.

“I want them to finalize it. That’s exactly what I’ve said many times.”

Source: guardian.ng