NATO chief tells Turkey’s Erdogan that ‘the time has come’ to let Sweden join the alliance
Associated PressDUBAI, United Arab Emirates — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he has told Turkey’s president that “the time has come” to let Sweden become a member of the military alliance. “I met with President Erdogan this morning and I reiterated my message that the time has come to finalize the accession process for Sweden,” he said. “I’m not able to give an exact date, but I welcome the fact that just a few weeks ago President Erdogan submitted the papers for ratification to the Turkish Parliament,” the NATO leader said. “My message in the meeting today was, of course, that now the time has come to ensure that the Parliament finalizes its deliberations and concludes the ratification of Sweden as a formal NATO member.” Sweden and neighboring Finland decided to drop their long-standing policy of non-alignment and apply for NATO membership following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.