Sweden 'Ready To Be NATO Ally', State Department Says

Washington D.C./08.11.23/Turan:  The State Department said on Tuesday that it believes the agreements that were made under this summer's Madrid Summit over Sweden's NATO membership bid, 'have been met,' and that the Scandinavian nation is 'ready' to become a NATO member, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"We have been very clear about our viewpoint on Sweden's accession to NATO. We have long felt that they are ready to be a NATO ally," Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told a daily briefing when responding to TURAN's questions.

Patel's comments came just a day after the Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Türkiye where he told reporters that he was convinced there would be progress on Sweden's NATO membership bid.

Blinken said that the U.S. was very encouraged by the fact that Turkish President Erdogan submitted the ratification protocol to parliament, adding that there was "a shared commitment" by Ankara and Washington to make sure that Sweden joins the alliance. "I would expect that we'll see that come to fruition," he said.

"So we’re going to continue to work and let this process play out," Patel told TURAN's correspondent.

Long-neutral Sweden applied to join NATO last year along with its neighboring country Finland to bolster its security after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Finland's membership was sealed early this year, but Sweden's bid had been held up by Türkiye and Hungary.

Alex Raufoglu