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Swedish and Turkish top diplomats in crucial talks to break Nato deadlock

Sweden on Thursday tried to win Turkey's approval for its Nato application, as foreign ministers from the two countries were set to meet in Brussels less than a week before a key summit of alliance leaders.

Published: 6 July 2023 15:02 CEST

Swedish and Turkish top diplomats in crucial talks to break Nato deadlock

The Nato headquarters in Brussels. Photo: AP Photo/Virginia Mayo

Nato allies are pressuring Ankara to give way after a year of delay and let the Scandinavian nation in by the time the gathering in Lithuania starts on Tuesday.

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg convened the last-ditch negotiations – which also include intelligence and security officials – in the hope they could pave the way for a breakthrough.

But diplomats at Nato were doubtful there will be any sign of a looming about-turn from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey and Sweden inked a deal last year aimed at clearing the path to accession.

Ankara demanded a Swedish crackdown on Kurdish movements, such as the the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK, which it says is a terrorist group.

READ ALSO:

What still needs to happen before Sweden can join Nato?

Sweden says it has fulfilled the deal. On Thursday it jailed a Turkish citizen for “attempted terrorist financing” for the PKK under new legislation.

But Erdogan has continued to criticise Stockholm, and a protest last week that saw pages of the Koran burnt further stoked his ire.

US President Joe Biden is expected to make a strong push for Sweden in the coming days.

Biden told Sweden’s prime minister at a meeting in Washington on Wednesday that he was “anxiously looking forward” to the country joining.

Sweden and its neighbour Finland dropped decades of military non-alignment and applied to join Nato in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland formally joined the bloc in April.

Hungary is also still holding out on Sweden’s membership, which requires the unanimous approval of all 31 Nato members. But Budapest has indicated it will give way if Turkey agrees.

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EXPLAINED: Is national service compulsory in Sweden?

Although Sweden hasn’t formally been involved in a war since 1814, the country has had some sort of conscription system since the 17th century, excluding a seven-year window between 2010 and 2017, where it was scrapped (or more specifically, “suspended in peacetime”).

Historically, it applied to men only, but was extended to include women in 2010.

Is it mandatory?

Yes and no.

When a Swedish citizen turns 18, they receive a letter from The Swedish Defence Conscription and Assessment Agency asking for information on their health, interests and education, in order to determine whether they should be called up for compulsory military service, officially known as värnplikt (“duty to protect”).

This document is sent out to all Swedes turning 18 in a given year, and it is mandatory to fill this in, with a few exceptions, such as people who receive benefits from the Social Insurance Agency or residential care homes for children and young people (like HVB-hem or SiS-hem).

Having said that, it is by no means every Swede turning 18 in a given year who actually ends up carrying out military service.

In 2023, the agency collected information on 102,286 young people in Sweden turning 18 that year, with 36,420 called up for testing.

If you don’t turn up to these tests, known in Swedish as mönstringen, you can be sentenced to brott mot totalförsvarsplikten or “crime against the total defence obligation”, which carries with it a fine of 2,000 kronor or up to a year in prison.

READ ALSO: Can dual citizens be called up for Swedish military service?

These tests at the Swedish Defence Conscription and Assessment Agency are mandatory, and include a theory test, a medical examination, eye and colour blindness tests, hearing tests, as well as an EKG test, pulse and blood pressure tests.

You’ll also need to do a general fitness test and a strength test, as well as an interview with a psychologist to determine whether you’re cut out for military training.

Each test will be scored separately, with your total points determining which course within the Swedish armed forces you’ll be assigned to. You’re allowed to express a preference, although you’re not guaranteed to get a position on the course of your choice. Military training (colloquially known as lumpen) takes between 9 and 15 months, depending on the course.

Not everyone who carries out these tests will actually be called up for military training – in 2023, 6,144 (around 6 percent of everyone turning 18 that year) were assigned a course within the Swedish army, where they were joined by an additional 1,166 individuals who had applied of their own accord.

Those who pass the tests but who aren’t assigned a position in the army are placed in the reserves, alongside people who delayed their conscription (due to their studies, for example). People in this group could be called up to perform military service if Swedish security is placed on high alert.

What about conscientious objectors?

People who for religious or political reasons do not want to use weapons can apply to carry out weapon-free military service or vapenfri tjänst.

This doesn’t mean that you won’t have to serve at all, but you could be assigned to civil basic training, which essentially means you’d help ensure that important services like healthcare, childcare or the fire services were still running if there was a crisis.

At the moment, there are no civil basic training courses for conscientious objectors running, although the government has the power to reintroduce these.

There is no programme in Sweden similar to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plans for 18-year-olds to dedicate one weekend a month volunteering in the community, for example by “delivering prescriptions and food to infirm people”.

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