JAKARTA - Sweden will start diplomatic talks with Turkey to address Ankara's objections to Stockholm's plans to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said.
"We will send a group of diplomats to have discussions and dialogue with Turkey so we can see how this can be resolved and what this is really about," Hultqvist told public service broadcaster SVT as reported by Antara, Monday, May 16.
Sweden's ruling Social Democrats have ended their 73-year opposition to joining NATO and are hoping to quickly gain access to abandon decades of military non-alignment following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
"Europe, Sweden and the Swedish people are now living in a new and dangerous reality," Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said during a parliamentary debate.
Andersson and several other party leaders say Sweden does not want NATO military bases or nuclear weapons on its soil.
The government will take a formal decision to implement at a later date and can do so without a vote in parliament.
Finland on Sunday (15/5) confirmed it would apply to join NATO.
However, Turkey surprised other NATO members by saying it would not look positively at the pleas from Finland and Sweden.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said "Scandinavian countries are lodgings for terrorist organizations".
Turkey says it wants Nordic countries to stop supporting Kurdish militant groups on their soil, and lift a ban on the sale of some weapons to Turkey.
NATO and the United States have said they believe Turkey will not withhold Finland and Sweden's membership.
Any decision on expanding NATO requires approval from the alliance's 30 members and their parliament, but diplomats say Erdogan will be under pressure to give up because Finland and Sweden will greatly strengthen NATO in the Baltic Sea.
"I am confident that we will be able to address the concerns that Turkey has expressed in a way that does not delay membership," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday.
The parliamentary debate, a formality because there is already a wide majority behind an application, also provides an opportunity for both parties opposing the NATO membership application to voice their concerns.
"The decision to join a nuclear-armed alliance with an authoritarian regime was made without the input of the electorate. There are other ways to keep Sweden safe," said Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar.
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