Turkey's NATO Ratification of Sweden's Bid Remains Uncertain Despite Fulfillment of Obligations

Turkey and Sweden will hold talks next week to clear the obstacles to Sweden's NATO accession as pressure grows on Turkey to ratify Sweden's membership bid ahead of the alliance's summit in mid-July. NATO heavyweights such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany also put pressure on Turkey by gently prodding Turkey's new foreign minister, former intelligence tsar Hakan Fidan, by referring to the NATO alliance in their congratulatory messages. Turkey urged Stockholm and Helsinki to keep a tighter rein on groups that Turkey considers a threat to its security, lift arms embargoes against Turkey and extradite or deport more than a hundred people Turkey considered "terror suspects" who lived in the two Nordic states.