STOCKHOLM: Sweden could be a part of NATO by summer, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson believes, despite his country’s ongoing dispute with Türkiye.
“There is a chance, without any doubt,” Kristersson told the Swedish news agency TT, according to a report on Thursday. While he did not put a timetable on it, he said he hoped “it will happen as soon as possible.”
Earlier this week, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Sweden could not count on his country’s support for accession after an Islamophobic politician burned a copy of the Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.
An incident in the Swedish capital on Saturday where Danish anti-Islam activist Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of Islam’s holy book and delivered a hate-filled speech with permission from Swedish authorities under police protection has brought tensions to the boiling point between Ankara and Stockholm.
However, Türkiye has never explicitly said that the door was completely closed to Sweden, Kristersson told TT. This was also the impression given by the rounds of talks held with Türkiye since last summer, he said.
“We can have different views on where in the process we are, but there is no doubt about the ultimate goal of the process,” the prime minister said. –Agencies
