Sweden seeks easing tension with Turkey following fraught days

DAMSCUS, Syria (North Press) – Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Tuesday Sweden wants to resume NATO talks with Turkey over Sweden’s and Finland’s bids to join the alliance.

This comes after relations deteriorated between the two countries following the burning of Quran by a Swedish far-right leader in front of the Turkish embassy in   Stockholm.

“No other national security question is more important than that we, together with Finland, quickly become members of NATO,” Kristersson told reporters.

The incident pushed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to say Monday that Sweden should not expect his country’s cooperation in joining NATO after it allowed such an act.

For his part, Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said on Tuesday a “time-out” of a few weeks was needed in Finland’s and Sweden’s talks with Turkey over their bids to join NATO.

“A time-out is needed before we return to the three-way talks and see where we are when the dust has settled after the current situation, so no conclusions should be drawn yet,” Haavisto told Reuters.

Since Sweden and Finland officially submitted their applications to join NATO in May last year, Turkey has repeatedly threatened to block their bids should they not concede to Turkey’s demands, most notably is the extradition of a number of people that Ankara deems as “terrorists”.

In order for them to join the military alliance, all 30 member states must approve the applications.

“I think there will be a break for a couple of weeks,” the finish foreign minister said.

Turkish state TV said on Tuesday that Ankara has indefinitely postponed trilateral talks with the Nordic countries over their NATO bids.