On the eve of its summit next month, NATO will hold talks on the problem of Sweden's admission to the Atlantic Alliance, and Turkey has agreed to discuss it even though it is blocking the process, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday.
He said he had discussed the matter with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and that he had "agreed to convene a high-level meeting in Brussels before the summit".
"That meeting will bring together foreign ministers, intelligence chiefs and national security advisors. The goal is to make progress towards Sweden's membership in NATO," said the Secretary General.
Stoltenberg told reporters in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, which will host the NATO summit on 11-12. July.
Sweden was "invited" to the alliance in June 2022, but its application, which must be accepted by all member states, was blocked by Turkey and Hungary.
Western officials had hoped Erdogan would soften his stance after winning another election last month.
Western countries, particularly the US, have called on Ankara to approve Sweden's membership, pointing out that it has respected the terms of an agreement with Ankara from last year on a stance against Kurdish opposition movements, such as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara has put on " blacklist", considering it terrorist.
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