BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is spearheading a new drive this week to see Finland and Sweden become members of the world's biggest military organization by the time U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts meet for their next summit in July.
Fearing that they might be targeted next after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the Nordic neighbors abandoned their traditional positions of military nonalignment to seek protection under NATO's security umbrella.
All 30 allies signed Finland's and Sweden's accession protocols. Almost all have since ratified those texts, but Turkey and, more recently, Hungary have sought guarantees and assurances from the two. NATO must agree unanimously for them to join.
Representatives from the Nordic neighbors and Turkey are meeting on Thursday at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Stoltenberg isn't directly involved in the talks, but he organized them after convincing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month to come back to the table.
“This is a process, and I don't expect the process to be concluded” with one round of talks, Stoltenberg told reporters in Stockholm on the eve of the meeting, “but I am confident that Finland and Sweden will become NATO allies. This is a top priority.”
Turkey accuses Sweden's government of being too soft on groups it believes are terror organizations or existential threats, including Kurdish groups, and…
