Shortly before the start of the NATO Summit in Lithuania, Turkish President Erdoğan made an approval of Sweden's admission to NATO surprisingly conditional on the revival of Turkey's EU accession talks, which were put on hold years ago. Addressing the EU countries, Erdoğan said: "First pave the way for Turkey to join the European Union, then we will pave the way for Sweden, as we did for Finland."

The linking of the two issues, however, met with little approval from the German head of government. The two issues are not related, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) at a press conference in Berlin on Monday. "That's why, in my opinion, they should not be understood as one coherent issue."

Scholz affirmed that Sweden fulfilled all the requirements for joining NATO. "I hope that we will soon succeed in Sweden becoming a NATO member." For a country to be admitted to NATO, it needs the consent of all member states.

In the course of the summit, Erdoğan is scheduled to meet Swedish head of government Ulf Kristersson in the late afternoon for talks on Sweden's NATO membership aspirations.

While Sweden has wanted to become part of NATO since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Turkey has been blocking Sweden's admission to the military alliance for months. Turkey accuses Sweden of being a safe haven for alleged "terrorists," meaning supporters of the Kurdish liberation movement and exile opposition figures against the Erdoğan regime. Sweden recently enacted tougher anti-terrorism legislation in response to Turkey's conditions for approving the country's NATO membership. The extended scope of the law includes the criminalization of all activities that can be interpreted as supporting the PKK. Last week, a Kurd was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for allegedly trying to raise money for the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). It is the first time in Sweden that someone has been convicted of trying to finance the PKK.

Asked about Erdogan’s comments, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he supports Turkey’s ambition to join the EU but noted that it wasn’t among the conditions listed in an agreement that Sweden, Finland and Turkey signed at last year’s NATO summit in Madrid.

Stoltenberg reiterated that Sweden had met those conditions and said he thinks it is “still possible to have a positive decision” on the country's pending membership during this week's summit in Lithuania.