Turkey’s President wants to use Sweden’s bid to join NATO to speed-up Turkey’s membership of the EU.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who holds talks with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tonight, suggested Ankara would finally approve Stockholm’s application - if NATO countries piled pressure on the EU to allow Turkey to join.
The row risks overshadowing the crunch NATO summit starting in Lithuanian capital Vilnius tomorrow. Mr Erdogan said: “Turkey has been waiting at the door of the European Union for over 50 years now, and almost all of the NATO member countries are now members of the European Union. I am making this call to these countries that have kept Turkey waiting at the gates of the European Union for more than 50 years.”
