About our Sweden/Turkey News
Latest news, commentary and analysis on Swedish-Turkish relations including NATO agendas, trade and conflict.
Sweden and Turkey have had diplomatic relations since the 1730s and both countries are full members of several international organisations such as the Council of Europe, the OECD, the OSCE and the Union for the Mediterranean. Sweden has an embassy in Ankara and a consulate-general in Istanbul, while Turkey has an embassy in Stockholm.
However, there have been some recent tensions between the two countries over various issues such as Turkey’s military operation in Syria, which led Sweden to stop selling weapons to Turkey in 2019, Turkey’s demands for the extradition of Kurdish activists and coup suspects from Sweden, and a rally by a Danish far-right party that burned the Quran in front of Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm in January 2023.
These tensions have also affected Sweden’s bid for NATO membership, which requires Turkey’s approval as a current member of the alliance.