Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan engaged in extensive talks on Friday, primarily centered around Sweden’s recent NATO membership. Turkey recently completed the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership, ending a two-year waiting period.
A joint statement from both the Turkish Government and the Swedish Prime Minister’s office highlighted the significance of this diplomatic call, which primarily addressed Sweden’s NATO membership process.
During their meeting, the two leaders discussed various topics, including the fight against terrorism, Türkiye-Sweden relations, as well as regional and global issues.
President Erdoğan expressed Türkiye’s belief that Sweden would fulfill its commitments arising from the trilateral memorandum in line with the spirit of alliance after finalizing its NATO accession. He emphasized the importance of both countries implementing the Security Cooperation Mechanism and stressed that Sweden should provide necessary support to Türkiye in its fight against terrorism, according to the statement by the Turkish Ministry.
Notably, Turkey completed the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership in January, bringing the previously nonaligned Nordic country closer to joining the military alliance. Hungary is now the only NATO ally that has not ratified Sweden’s accession.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, in response to Turkey’s action, expressed his appreciation on X (formerly known as Twitter), stating, “With this, a key milestone has been reached in Sweden’s path towards NATO membership.”
