BUDAPEST (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th July, 2023) Hungary is in constant consultation with Turkey on the issue of ratifying Sweden's NATO membership and will not delay the country's accession to the alliance if negotiations between Ankara and Stockholm make progress, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Tuesday.
"In the course of the last few days, I have spoken a lot with my counterpart, the head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, who will be holding consultations with the Swedish side and NATO representatives in the coming days. So we will also be in close and constant contact with the Turkish Foreign Minister in the days ahead. And if some progress is made, we will keep our word that Hungary will not delay the membership of any country in NATO," Szijjarto said at a press conference broadcast on social media.
Finland and Sweden submitted applications to join the alliance in May 2022 amid the events in Ukraine. In order for the application to be approved, the approval of all member states is required. At the Madrid Summit in June 2022, all NATO members approved the accession of Sweden and Finland to the alliance. The ratification process lasted until early 2023, with 28 out of 30 members having approved the applications. However, Hungary and Turkey wanted to consider the Swedish application separately from the Finnish one. On the night of March 31, 2023, they approved Finland's application, being the last two states to do so. On April 4, Finland became NATO's 31st member. Sweden's application is still pending approval by Hungary and Turkey.
Turkey is delaying Swedish membership in NATO as an act of protest for harboring members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been declared a terrorist organization. The Turkish government has been demanding since May 2022 that Sweden give up all members of the PKK it is harboring. Quran-burning protests in Stockholm have further clouded Sweden's prospects of gaining Turkey's approval to join NATO any time soon.
