On Friday, Turkey announced that it will begin the process of ratifying Finland's NATO application, but not Sweden's. At a press conference, Turkish President Erdogan said that Sweden had not taken the necessary steps in counterterrorism.
If membership takes more than a few months or a maximum of a year, Sweden will need to review large parts of our security and defense policy, says Kjell Engelbrekt.
"If it is long-lasting, we will need to separate many of the collaborations we have with Finland. For example, it will not be possible to do military exercises together in the same way.
Elections in Turkey
But whether there will be a shorter or longer waiting period is impossible to answer at the moment, says Kjell Engelbrekt.
"It will be easier to judge after the elections in Turkey. It's completely impossible before then. There are too many factors.
One of the reasons Erdogan mentioned at the press conference why Sweden is not proceeding in the same process as Finland is that 124 "terrorists" have still not been extradited. During the press conference, he mentioned protesting terrorist groups on the streets of Stockholm and that the Swedish Parliament had been infiltrated by organizations that Turkey has classified as terrorist.
According to Kjell Engelbrekt, Turkey needs to contribute more material to substantiate the terror suspicions in order for the Swedish legal system to also be able to share suspicions against these people.
"As far as we know, some of them are journalists who have been critical of Turkey. We would have to overturn our own rule of law to make those disclosures," Engelbrekt said.