Washington/Vilnius, Lithuania — The United States supports Turkiye’s bid to enter the European Union but does not believe Ankara should link that to accepting Sweden’s entry into NATO, a senior American official said Monday.
“The United States has for a number of years supported Turkiye’s EU aspirations and we continue to do so,” said State Department spokesman Matt Miller.
“However, we do not believe that it should be an impediment to Sweden’s accession to NATO,” Miller said.
Earlier Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stunned fellow NATO leaders on the eve of their Vilnius summit by linking his approval for Sweden’s candidacy to a resumption of Ankara’s long-stalled membership talks with the European Union.
Miller stressed that the United States has no role in EU decisions on its membership, saying: “Ultimately, that’s a matter between the European Union and Turkiye.”
But he said the expansion of NATO to include Sweden was important to Washington.
He pointed out that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan three times in the last six days, and that President Joe Biden spoke with Erdogan on Sunday.
Sweden has met Ankara’s demands to gain its approval for entering NATO, Miller said.
“We believe that Sweden has addressed them and, as I said, we think it’s time to move to full membership,” he added.
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met EU chief Charles Michel on the eve of a NATO summit Monday, diplomats said, after Ankara pegged Sweden’s NATO membership to Turkiye’s EU ambitions.
Earlier Erdogan had rattled preparations for NATO’s Vilnius meeting by declaring that he would only back Sweden’s candidacy for the Western alliance if European Union members — most of whom are also NATO allies — agree to revive Turkiye’s negotiations to join the EU.
The Turkish leader held talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Swedish Premier Ulf Kristersson in Vilnius in a push to get Ankara to lift its year-long block on Stockholm.
Diplomats said that meeting was then put on hold while Erdogan sat down with European Council head Michel.
It was unclear what Michel, who heads the body representing the EU’s 27 leaders, could offer to Erdogan to help break the deadlock.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, an EU and NATO heavyweight, has insisted there is no link between Stockholm’s quest to join the Western military alliance and Ankara’s long-stalled application to enter the EU.