NATO chief makes last-ditch bid to bring Sweden into fold before summit

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that he will call an urgent meeting in the coming days to try to overcome Turkish objections to Sweden joining the military organisation.

It's a last-ditch effort to have the Nordic country standing alongside the allies at a major summit next month.

NATO requires the unanimous approval of all members to expand. Turkiye accuses Sweden of being too lenient toward groups that Ankara says pose a security threat, including militant Kurdish groups and people associated with a 2016 coup attempt.

Stoltenberg said he has held fresh talks on Sweden's candidacy with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as senior officials from Sweden and neighbouring Finland, which became the 31st member of the world's biggest security organization in April.

We agreed to convene a high-level meeting in Brussels before the summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius beginning July 11, Stoltenberg told reporters. The aim is to make progress in ...