Turkey finally backs Sweden’s NATO bid
Context:
- Recently Sweden’s attempt to join NATO cleared a major hurdle after Turkey’s parliament supported its membership.
- It is important note that for a new country to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) all the existing members have to approve it.
- Turkey and Hungary had been opposing Sweden’s entry into NATO for almost the past two years.
Why does Sweden want to join NATO?
- Sweden has not fought a war in two centuries and stayed neutral through the two World Wars and the Cold War.
- In recent years, although it joined the European Union and collaborated with NATO, it showed no intention of actually joining the military alliance.
- However, this neutrality was abandoned after Russia invaded Ukraine.
- With public opinion increasingly in favour of getting into NATO, both Sweden and Finland applied for membership in 2022.
- While Finland’s bid was cleared, Sweden ran into stiff opposition from Turkey’s President and Hungary’s Prime.
- Once a country is a NATO member, an attack on its territory is considered an attack on the US-led alliance, and all 31 members are obliged to defend each other under the NATO treaty.
Why was Turkey opposing Sweden’s bid?
- Turkey had accused Sweden of being soft on groups it sees as terrorists, such as the Kurdish militant outfit the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
- Quran-burning protests held in Sweden, which its government says are protected under freedom of speech laws, further worsened its relationship with Turkey.
- Hungary had been seen as following Turkey’s lead in blocking Sweden.
- Its grievances with the country include Stockholm’s negative remarks about the rule of law and also state of democracy under Orban.
What will Sweden bring to NATO?
- Once Sweden becomes a member, almost all of the Baltic Sea coastline, except that in Russia’s control, will become the NATO territory.
- This will provide the alliance strategic bases close to Russia, make supply lines more streamlined and connected, and make it easier to defend assets in the sea.
- Sweden’s military, though numerically small, is modern and experienced in previous NATO missions.
- Importantly, it has advanced aircraft and submarine capabilities.
