The Takeaway: Turkey still has final say on Sweden, Finland NATO bids
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Leading the news: Turkey allows ‘invitation’ to Sweden and Finland for NATO
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed not to veto NATO’s invitation to Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, breaking a months-long impasse. The intervention of US President Joe Biden, who spoke with Erdogan by phone on Tuesday morning, helped smooth the agreement, as Nazlan Ertan reports. NATO leaders have been pressing Erdogan to allow the bids by the two countries, who applied for membership in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But the "trilateral agreement" reached by Turkey, Finland and Sweden at the NATO summit in Madrid this week does not make membership a done deal.
The Trilateral Memorandum: Signed by the foreign ministers of Turkey, Sweden and Finland on June 28, the agreement is less an endorsement of membership than a checklist of Turkish expectations.
First, the memorandum concludes with Turkey agreeing to the "invitation" of the two countries to join NATO. That’s it.
