Turkey Cancels Visit of Swedish Defense Minister

The National Defense Minister of Turkey, Hulusi Akar, has announced that the visit of his Swedish counterpart scheduled for January 27 has been canceled as it has lost its relevance. This was reported by RIA Novosti.

Swedish Defense Minister Paul Johnson intended to discuss Sweden's NATO membership application in Ankara, which has yet to be ratified by Turkey.

“At the stage we have reached, the significance and relevance of the visit of Swedish Defense Minister Johnson have faded. Therefore, we have canceled it,” Akar's words were quoted by the Haberturk television channel.

Earlier, a protest action by supporters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is banned in Turkey, took place in Stockholm, during which offensive remarks and gestures towards Turkish President Erdogan were made.

Following these incidents, the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament, Mustafa Sentop, had canceled the planned visit of his Swedish counterpart to Ankara. A complaint related to the protest was filed by the Turkish president's attorney with the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ankara, and a criminal case has been initiated.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström had stated that the actions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party could complicate the process of Ankara ratifying Sweden's NATO membership application.

On May 18, amid the events in Ukraine, Finland and Sweden submitted their applications to join NATO to the alliance's Secretary-General. Initially, Ankara had blocked the consideration of these applications, but on June 29, Turkey, Sweden, and Finland signed a trilateral memorandum on security, addressing all of Ankara's concerns. Turkey had removed its objections regarding the NATO memberships of these two countries.

As of October 6, 2022, out of 30 countries, 28 (excluding Turkey and Hungary) have already made positive decisions regarding the matter.