Blinken Urges Turkey's Foreign Minister to Support Sweden's NATO Membership

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan during a phone conversation to support Sweden's accession to NATO at the upcoming summit in Vilnius. This was reported by Blinken's press secretary, Matthew Miller.

"Secretary Blinken emphasized the importance of NATO unity at such a critical moment and called on Turkey to support Sweden's entry into the alliance now," Miller's statement said.

Another topic of their conversation was the expansion of the Black Sea grain initiative. It is noteworthy that Sweden submitted its application to join NATO simultaneously with Finland in 2022. In April, Helsinki became the 31st member of the alliance, while Sweden's accession process was halted after Turkey refused to approve its application, citing the burning of the Quran in front of Turkey's embassy in Stockholm.

Ankara also stated that Stockholm had not extradited individuals linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist organization. In early June, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Sweden had fulfilled all the obligations to join the alliance and that Ankara should lift its objections regarding this.

As reported by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Mr. Blinken and Mr. Fidan also discussed the possible expansion of the grain deal.