NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday asked Turkey to drop its objections to Sweden, “which has fulfilled its obligations,” and to complete its accession to the alliance “as soon as possible,” according to AFP.

Stoltenberg, who hailed a “productive meeting”, spoke to the media at the end of a two-hour meeting at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was returned to a new five-year term a day earlier. state

Turkey has been blocking Sweden’s entry into the Atlantic alliance for thirteen months, accusing it of condescending to the Kurdish fighters it hosts on its territory.

According to Stoltenberg, “the time has come” for this accession to be confirmed before the Alliance summit in Vilnius on July 11 and 12.

To do this, he announced the creation of a “permanent mechanism” between NATO and Turkey, the next meeting is scheduled for “the week of June 12”, without specifying where exactly it will take place.

“Sweden’s accession to NATO will strengthen its security, but it will also make Turkey stronger,” Stoltenberg said.

Turkey remains the only one of NATO’s 31 member states, along with Hungary, that has yet to ratify the expansion, following the green wave given by Finland.

The NATO secretary general, who attended the inauguration ceremony in Ankara of President Erdogan, who was re-elected on May 28, also thanked Turkey for deploying reinforcements to Kosovo, which is in the midst of a violent uprising.

Ankara is participating in KFOR, the NATO-led multinational force in Kosovo.