US says Erdogan should not link joining EU to Sweden's NATO entry

The United States on Monday backed Turkey's bid to enter the European Union but said that Erdogan shouldn't link it to the acceptance of Sweden's entry into NATO, news agency AFP reported citing a senior American official.

"The United States has for a number of years supported Turkey's EU aspirations and we continue to do so," said State Department spokesman Matt Miller.

"However, we do not believe that it should be an impediment to Sweden's accession to NATO," Miller said.

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Miller stressed that the United States has no role in EU decisions on its membership, saying: "Ultimately, that's a matter between the European Union and Turkey."

However, he said that the expansion of NATO to include Sweden was of prominence to Washington.

He highlighted that the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan three times in the last six days, further adding that US President Joe Biden had a telephonic conversation with Erdogan on Sunday.

Sweden has met Ankara's demands to gain its approval for entering NATO, Miller said.

"We believe that Sweden has addressed them and, as I said, we think it's time to move to full membership," he added.

Earlier on Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan released a statement saying that he would only support Sweden's NATO candidacy if the European Union resumes membership talks with Ankara.

His remarks came at the time of a landmark NATO summit where Western leaders will showcase unity in the face of Russia's war on Ukraine.

Scholz says Erdogan's new demand merges two unrelated issues

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reacted to Erdogan's demand calling it 'unrelated' to the issue of giving Sweden the security guarantees afforded by the world's most powerful military organisation.

Erdogan, on Monday, asserted that many of the same leaders who were blockading Turkey's EU membership now wanted him to support Sweden's candidacy.

“I would like to underline one reality. Turkey has been waiting at the EU’s front door for 50 years,” Erdogan said.

"Almost all the NATO members are EU members. I now am addressing these countries, which are making Turkey wait for more than 50 years, and I will address them again in Vilnius," Erdogan said moments before boarding his flight for the summit in the Lithuanian capital.

"First, open the way to Turkey's membership of the European Union, and then we will open it for Sweden, just as we had opened it for Finland."

He further added that this is what he "told United States President Joe Biden" when the two leaders had a telephonic conversation on Sunday.

Scholz said Erdogan's new demand merged two unrelated issues.

"Sweden meets all the requirements for NATO membership," he said in Berlin. "The other question is one that is not connected with it and that is why I do not think it should be seen as a connected issue."

Turkey first applied to be a member of the European Economic Community in the year 1987.

It then got converted into an EU candidate country in the year 1999 and formally launched membership negotiations with the bloc in the year 2005.

The talks paused over human rights violation concerns from the European countries that surfaced amid a sweeping crackdown launched by Erdogan after surviving a failed 2016 military coup.

(With inputs from the agencies)

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