U.S. Defense Secretary Calls for Turkey's Approval of Sweden's NATO Membership

Lloyd Austin, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, during a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Yasar Guler at the NATO Defense Ministers' meeting in Brussels, stated that he has asked Turkey to agree to Sweden's membership in NATO. Austin said at a press conference at NATO headquarters: "My goal for meeting with him today was a familiarization session, just to congratulate him on his appointment as Minister of Defense. Of course, I take every opportunity to encourage him to take a step forward and agree to Sweden's accession to NATO." The U.S. Defense Secretary also mentioned that since their meeting was very brief, "there is nothing to report from it." After Russia's invasion of Ukraine last February, Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO, deciding to abandon decades of military non-alignment in favor of ensuring the collective security of the transatlantic alliance. Finland became a NATO member in April this year, but Ankara has yet to approve Sweden's accession, accusing Stockholm of harboring Kurdish militants whom it considers terrorists and complaining about anti-Turkey protests in Sweden. Hungary is the only other NATO member that has not yet approved Sweden's NATO proposal, citing Sweden's criticism of the Prime Minister's rule of law record. However, NATO diplomats say they expect Hungary to act quickly to ratify it if Ankara indicates readiness. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Sweden should not expect Ankara's green light at next month's NATO meeting unless it prevents anti-Turkey protests in Stockholm. The U.S. expresses hope for Sweden's NATO membership and implicitly supports Stoltenberg's continued secretary-generalship.