Turkey lifts NATO objections on Sweden, Finland

Turkey agreed Tuesday to lift its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, a breakthrough in an impasse clouding a leaders’ summit in Madrid amid Europe’s worst security crisis in decades triggered by the war in Ukraine.

After urgent top-level talks, alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said: "In light of the progress we have made together, Turkey has agreed to support Finland and Sweden joining NATO."

The move came after Stoltenberg held a meeting between the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.

The foreign ministers of the respective three countries were also present.

Among its many shattering consequences, President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted Sweden and Finland to abandon their long-held nonaligned status and apply to join NATO as protection against an increasingly aggressive and unpredictable Russia - which shares a long border with Finland.

Under NATO treaties, an attack on any member would be considered an attack against all and trigger a military response by the entire alliance.

NATO operates by consensus, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had threatened to block the Nordic pair, insisting they change their stance on Kurdish rebel groups that Turkey considers terrorists.

After weeks of diplomacy and hours of talks on Tuesday, Finnish President Niinistö said the three leaders had signed a joint agreement to break the logjam.

Turkey has demanded that Finland and Sweden extradite wanted individuals and lift arms restrictions imposed after Turkey’s 2019 military incursion into northeast Syria.

Turkey, in turn, agreed “to support at the 2022 Madrid Summit the invitation of Finland and Sweden to become members of NATO.”

Details of exactly what was agreed were unclear.

Russian President Vladimir Putin "is getting more NATO on his borders", Stoltenberg said.

"So what he gets is the opposite of what he actually demanded, and that was to NATO to close its doors. We are demonstrating that NATO's doors are open. NATO's door is open."

U.S. President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders arrived in Madrid for a summit that will set the course of the alliance for the coming years.

The summit was kicking off with a leaders' dinner hosted by Spain's King Felipe VI at the 18th-century Royal Palace of Madrid.