U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the NATO summit in Madrid, on June 29.JONATHAN ERNST/Reuters
U.S. President Joe Biden told Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan that he’d like to welcome Sweden into NATO as soon as possible.
That’s according to the White House, which said the two leaders discussed a range of issues over the phone on Sunday ahead of an upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Membership to the alliance requires unanimous approval by all NATO members, and Hungary and Turkey have yet to clear the way for Sweden.
Turkey accuses Sweden of harbouring members of militant groups, mainly supporters of the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, who Erdogan says organize demonstrations and finance terrorist groups.
Swedish officials say their nation is no safe haven for terrorism.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg signalled he would convene a meeting between Erdogan and the Swedish Prime Minister in Vilnius on Monday, before the summit officially starts.
Biden will hold talks with NATO leaders on Tuesday and Wednesday.
During the summit, allies aim to show support for Ukraine and give Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a sense of what will have to be done to gain NATO membership some time in the future.
In a CNN interview previewing his trip, Biden urged caution for now on Ukraine’s drive to join NATO, saying the alliance could get drawn into the war with Russia due to NATO’s mutual defence pact.
According to Zelensky, an invitation would send a message that the Western defence alliance is not afraid of Moscow.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.