STORY: Erdogan ties Sweden's NATO bid to Türkiye's EU accession talks
DATELINE: July 11, 2023
LENGTH: 0:01:23
LOCATION: ANKARA/ISTANBUL, Türkiye
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1 various of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
2 various of views in Istanbul
3 flag of the NATO
4 flags of the EU and Türkiye
5 SOUNDBITE (Turkish): RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, Turkish President
6 various of views of the EU
7 various of a meeting between the Turkish and Swedish delegations in Ankara (file)

STORYLINE:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Türkiye would support Sweden's joining NATO if the European Union (EU) revived membership talks with Ankara.

SOUNDBITE (Turkish): RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, Turkish President
"I am calling out to the countries that have kept Türkiye waiting at the EU gate for more than 50 years. First, let's pave the way for Türkiye in the EU. Then let's pave the way for Sweden, just as the case with Finland."

Erdogan told reporters before leaving for Vilnius, Lithuania, where he will attend the NATO summit on July 11-12.
   
Türkiye signed an association agreement with the EU's predecessor European Economic Community in 1964, applied to join the bloc in 1987, and was granted official candidate status in 1999.
   
Ankara started membership talks with Brussels in 2005, but no breakthrough has been made since then.
Türkiye has been holding a veto of Sweden's NATO accession on the grounds that the Nordic country harbors members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is listed as a terror group by Ankara, the EU and the United States.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Ankara/Istanbul, Türkiye.
(XHTV)