Every word was well calculated when NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson addressed the press together at the Brussels headquarters on Monday evening.

Both read their statements from the sheet, they did not accept questions.

This was consistent insofar as her text was addressed to a third party who was not present: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, who blocked Sweden and Finland from joining NATO.

Or, to be more precise: the president of Türkiye, as the country has been trying to be called in international organizations for a few weeks.

Both paid attention to this linguistic subtlety.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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It was the prelude to the meeting between Andersson, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Erdogan on Tuesday afternoon in Madrid, moderated by Stoltenberg.

A small summit that should decide whether the alliance could go to its big summit this Wednesday as one.

The leaders deliberated for more than three hours.

The basis was a written statement on the points that Erdogan wanted to be clarified before dropping his veto against the admission of both countries.

Nothing was initially known about the course and outcome.

Andersson had already called Erdogan on Saturday.

"I would say it was a good and constructive conversation," she said at NATO headquarters.

And added that she hopes for an agreement in the "very near future", "preferably at the summit".

It was not known whether Erdogan saw it that way.

Both countries need to deliver not just words but results if they want to become NATO members, he said on Tuesday before leaving for Madrid.

The day before he had said he would explain the "hypocrisy" towards "terrorist organizations" with "documents, information and pictures" to the interlocutors.

No special treatment for Turkey

Andersson and Stoltenberg tried to dispel this allegation on Monday.

Sweden has amended its laws and launched new investigations into the PKK, said the NATO Secretary General, certifying the country a "paradigm shift" in the fight against terrorism.

A new law that broadens the scope of terrorist acts and provides for higher penalties will come into force on July 1, Andersson said.

We are witnessing the "biggest overhaul" of anti-terrorism legislation in thirty years.

The laws against the financing of terrorism had already been tightened beforehand, and the next step would be to amend the constitution so that participation in terrorist organizations could be punished.

"There should be no doubt

But that alone was not enough for Ankara.

The Turkish government demanded the extradition of several Kurdish extremists.

"You are currently looking at Turkish extradition requests," the NATO Secretary General said in the direction of his visitor.

She in turn referred to the judiciary, which processes such applications "immediately and prudently" in accordance with European law.

In a constitutional state, politicians cannot and must not intervene in such procedures.

However, as Andersson also said, she can expel people who are not convicted but pose a public danger.

A "substantial number" of such cases are being examined - which could build a bridge for the government.

It was also the main reason why the key to an agreement lay in Stockholm and not in Helsinki.

Several Kurdish activists who Ankara considers to be terrorists live in Sweden;

in Finland this is not the case.

The other reason concerns the arms embargo against Turkey.

After the Turkish invasion of Syria in 2019, both countries refused to deliver war equipment to Ankara.

But the Swedish laws are even more restrictive than the Finnish ones: In principle, any arms delivery abroad is prohibited there, unless the government grants an exemption.

In addition, the Swedish armaments industry is more important than the Finnish one, so it is also more interesting for Ankara.

Andersson addressed this point as well.

NATO membership will have implications for controlling defense exports to all allies, she said.

"Solidarity in the alliance will be reflected in our national regulations." This could be seen as an announcement that Sweden intends to deviate from its rigorous course - and that Turkey will not receive any special treatment.

Finland was also open to this.

The principle of not delivering weapons to areas of tension has been abandoned in Ukraine, a diplomat from the country said recently.

He also pointed out that current contracts with Turkey had not been suspended anyway.

Would all that be enough to dissuade Erdogan from his veto?

One element was still missing on Tuesday.

The Turkish president himself pointed this out when he announced he would meet American President Joe Biden and discuss the purchase of F-16 fighter jets.

Turkey would like these to replace F-35 fighter jets, which Washington canceled when Ankara procured a Russian anti-missile defense system.

Erdogan accused America of "stalling tactics".

This, in turn, was part of the difficult negotiations on expanding the alliance.

A deal in Madrid could therefore also help Sweden and Finland across the finish line.