Sweden cannot meet all of Turkey’s demands on the NATO file: Prime Minister

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kersterson said on Sunday that his country could not accept “some demands” made by Turkey regarding the Scandinavian country’s application to join NATO.

Christerson said during a security conference also attended by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

“We are convinced that Turkey will make a decision. We don’t know when,” he said, adding that it would depend on Ankara’s domestic politics as well as Sweden’s “ability to be serious.”

Sweden and Finland broke with decades of military non-alignment and applied to join the US-led defense coalition in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. But Turkey refused to accept its offer until the two countries took steps, including joining Turkey’s anti-terror war against the PKK.

Finland’s foreign minister said the country would join NATO at the same time as its neighbor. “Finland is in no hurry to join NATO that we can’t wait for Sweden to get the green light,” Pekka Haavisto told reporters at a conference on Sunday.

In late December, Turkey praised Sweden for responding to its security concerns, but stressed that more was needed to win Ankara’s full support for Stockholm’s faltering NATO membership.