NATO absolutely wants to believe it, despite the re-election of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is against it. Sweden's accession to NATO is "absolutely possible" by the time of the Alliance's summit in Vilnius in July, the organization's leader, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Tuesday.

"There are no guarantees," he admitted at a press conference in Oslo, which this week hosts an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers. "We don't know for sure. Of course, we are talking about sovereign decisions on the part of national parliaments," he insisted, but "my message is that it is within our reach".

Ankara blocks Swedish bid

For the NATO Secretary General, "there is now a window, especially after the Turkish elections and with the Turkish parliament being formed". "Of course it's possible," he concluded. Turkey is, with Hungary, the only one of the 31 NATO countries that has not yet ratified Swedish membership. Finland formally became the Alliance's 31st member on 4th April. Re-elected Sunday for five years, Recep Tayyip Erdogan blocks this Swedish candidacy by accusing Stockholm of sheltering Turkish opposition figures and Kurdish activists of movements considered "terrorist" by Ankara.

Jens Stoltenberg said he had "constant contacts with the Turkish authorities" to try to remove the last obstacles. As the Parliament is being set up in Ankara, the head of Turkish diplomacy will not be present this week in Oslo for the meeting of NATO foreign ministers, supposed to prepare the Vilnius summit on 11th and 12th July.

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