UPDATE - NATO chief says he supports Türkiye’s will to become EU member

UPDATES WITH EU SPOKESPERSON'S COMMENTS, LITHUANIAN PRESIDENT’S REMARKS, AND MORE REMARKS BY STOLTENBERG

By Ahmet Gencturk and Ahmet Gurhan Katarl

ATHENS / LONDON (AA) – The chief of NATO on Monday said he supports Türkiye's will to gain EU membership.

"I support Türkiye's ambition to become a member of the European Union," Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a press conference held with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda in the capital Vilnius, where the alliance is holding a summit this week.

His remarks came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said he would urge the NATO summit to open a path for Ankara's long-delayed EU membership process.

"First, let's pave the way for Türkiye in the EU, and then we will pave the way for Sweden just as we did for Finland," Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul before heading to Vilnius to attend the summit.

But in Brussels, an EU spokesperson said accession to the EU bloc and to the military alliance are separate and cannot be linked.

EU accession and NATO membership are “two separate processes,” and the EU has a “very structured process of enlargement,” Dana Spinant, European Commission deputy chief spokeswoman, said Monday.

The process of enlargement has “a very, very clear set of steps that need to be taken by all candidate countries,” she told a news conference.

She added: “You cannot link the two processes in regards to (the EU bid of) Turkey and next steps with regard to (NATO) enlargement.”

- Deal on Sweden still possible, NATO chief suggests

Stoltenberg also reiterated that he believes that Sweden has met the conditions to be part of the alliance, including removing restrictions on arms export to Türkiye.

Noting that he will meet Erdogan before the summit, he added that it still possible to reach a deal on Sweden’s NATO bid during the summit in Vilnius.

Stoltenberg also said that allies will take decisions on Ukraine, including a multi-year package of assistance, and upgrade political ties with a new NATO-Ukraine Council.

The allies will also address Ukraine’s path towards NATO membership, he added.

Nauseda, for his part, stressed that the security of NATO’s eastern flank should be a priority for the entire alliance.

Against this background, he said, the alliance needs to swiftly implement the decisions taken at the July 2022 Madrid summit on forward defense and to approve new defense plans in Vilnius.

- Türkiye opposes Swedish membership over security concerns

During the two-day NATO summit, the leaders will address the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, its challenges to NATO, and steps to strengthen the military alliance's defense and deterrence. Sweden's bid to join NATO bid will also be discussed.

Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership soon after Russia launched a war on Ukraine in February 2022.

Although Türkiye has approved Finland's NATO membership, it is waiting for Sweden to fulfill its commitments under the deal.

Previously, Erdogan underlined that Sweden cannot hope to join NATO as long as it gives shelter and a green light to terrorists and supporters of terrorists.

To join NATO, Sweden needs the approval of all of its current members, including Türkiye, which has been in the alliance for over 70 years and boasts its second-largest army.​​​​​​​

Turkey applied for the EU membership in 1987, and accession talks began in 2005.

But negotiations stalled in 2007 due to objections of the Greek Cypriot administration on the divided island of Cyprus as well as opposition from Germany and France.