MADRID (AP) 鈥 Turkey agreed Tuesday to lift its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, ending an impasse that had clouded a leaders鈥 summit opening in Madrid amid Europe鈥檚 worst security crisis in decades, triggered by the war in Ukraine.
After urgent top-level talks with leaders of the three countries, alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that 鈥渨e now have an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO.鈥 He called it 鈥渁 historic decision.鈥
Among its many shattering consequences, has prompted Sweden and Finland to abandon their long-held nonaligned status and apply to join NATO as protection against an increasingly aggressive and unpredictable Russia 鈥 which shares a long border with Finland. Under NATO treaties, an attack on any member would be considered an attack against all and trigger a military response by the entire alliance.
NATO operates by consensus, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had threatened to block the Nordic pair, insisting they change their stance on Kurdish rebel groups that Turkey considers terrorists.
After weeks of diplomacy and hours of talks on Tuesday, Finnish President Sauli Niinist枚 said the three leaders had signed a joint agreement to break the logjam.
Turkey said it had 鈥済ot what it wanted鈥 including 鈥渇ull cooperation ... in the fight against鈥 the rebel groups.
Stoltenberg said leaders of the 30-nation alliance will issue a formal invitation to the two countries to join on Wednesday. The decision has to be ratified by all individual nations, but he said he was 鈥渁bsolutely confident鈥 Finland and Sweden would become members, something that could happen within months.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said the agreement was 鈥済ood for Finland and Sweden. And it鈥檚 good for NATO.鈥
She said completing the process of membership should be done 鈥渢he sooner the better.鈥
鈥淏ut there are 30 parliaments that need to approve this and you never know,鈥 Andersson told the Associated Press.
Turkey hailed Tuesday鈥檚 agreement as a triumph, saying the Nordic nations had agreed to crack down on groups that Ankara deems national security threats, including the Kurdistan Workers鈥 Party, or PKK, and its Syrian extension. It said they also agreed 鈥渘ot to impose embargo restrictions in the field of defense industry鈥 on Turkey and to take 鈥渃oncrete steps on the extradition of terrorist criminals.鈥
Turkey has demanded that Finland and Sweden extradite wanted individuals and lift arms restrictions imposed after Turkey鈥檚 2019 military incursion into northeast Syria.
Turkey, in turn, agreed 鈥渢o support at the 2022 Madrid Summit the invitation of Finland and Sweden to become members of NATO.鈥
Details of exactly what was agreed were unclear. Amineh Kakabaveh, an independent Swedish lawmaker of Kurdish origin whose support the government depends on for a majority in Parliament, said it was 鈥渨orrisome that Sweden isn鈥檛 revealing what promises it has given Erdogan.鈥
Andersson dismissed suggestions Sweden and Finland had conceded too much.
Asked if the Swedish public will see the agreement as a concession on issues like extraditions of Kurdish militants regarded by Ankara as terrorists, Andersson said 鈥渢hey will see that this is good for the security of Sweden.鈥
U.S. President Joe Biden congratulated the three nations on taking a 鈥渃rucial step.鈥
Amid speculation about a U.S. role in ending the deadlock, a senior administration official said Washington did not offer any concessions to Turkey to coax it to accept a deal. But the official said the U.S. played a crucial role in helping bring the two parties closer together, and Biden spoke with Erdogan Tuesday morning at the behest of Sweden and Finland to help encourage the talks.
The agreement came at the opening of a crucial summit, dominated by that will set for the coming years. The summit was kicking off with a leaders' dinner hosted by Spain's King Felipe VI at the 18th-century Royal Palace of Madrid.
Top of the agenda in meetings Wednesday and Thursday is strengthening defenses against Russia, and .
Moscow鈥檚 invasion on Feb. 24 shook European security and brought shelling of cities and bloody ground battles back to the continent. NATO, which had begun to turn its focus to terrorism and other non-state threats, has had to confront an adversarial Russia once again.
said NATO was 鈥渁s united and galvanized as I think we have ever been.鈥
A Russian missile strike Monday on a shopping mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk was a grim reminder of the war鈥檚 horrors. Some saw the timing, as Group of Seven leaders met in Germany and just ahead of the NATO gathering, as a message from Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is due to address NATO leaders by video on Wednesday, called the strike on the mall a 鈥渢errorist鈥 act.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko traveled to Madrid to urge the alliance to provide his country with 鈥渨hatever it takes鈥 to stop the war.
鈥淲ake up, guys. This is happening now. You are going to be next, this is going to be knocking on your door just in the blink of an eye,鈥 Klitschko told reporters at the summit venue.
Stoltenberg said the meeting would chart a blueprint for the alliance 鈥渋n a more dangerous and unpredictable world鈥 鈥 and that meant 鈥渨e have to invest more in our defense,鈥 Stoltenberg said. Just nine of NATO鈥檚 30 members meet the organization鈥檚 target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense. Spain, which is hosting the summit, spends just half that.
Stoltenberg said Monday that NATO allies will agree at the summit to nearly eightfold, from 40,000 to 300,000 troops. The troops will be based in their home nations, but dedicated to specific countries on NATO鈥檚 eastern flank, where the alliance plans to build up stocks of equipment and ammunition.
Beneath the surface, there are tensions within NATO over how the war will end and what, if any, concessions Ukraine should make to end the fighting.
There are also differences on how hard a line to take on China in NATO鈥檚 new Strategic Concept 鈥 its once-a-decade set of priorities and goals. The last document, published in 2010, didn't mention China at all.
The new concept is expected to set out NATO鈥檚 approach on issues from cybersecurity to climate change 鈥 and the growing economic and military reach of China, and the rising importance and power of the Indo-Pacific region. For the first time, the leaders of Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand are attending the summit as guests.
Some European members are wary of the tough U.S. line on Beijing and don鈥檛 want China cast as an opponent.
In the Strategic Concept, NATO is set to declare Russia its number one threat.
Russia鈥檚 state space agency, Roscosmos marked the summit鈥檚 opening by releasing satellite images and coordinates of the Madrid conference hall where it is being held, along with those of the White House, the Pentagon and the government headquarters in London, Paris and Berlin.
The agency said NATO was set to declare Russia an enemy at the summit, adding that it was publishing precise coordinates 鈥渏ust in case.鈥
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Associated Press Writers Aritz Parra, Ciaran Giles, Sylvie Corbet and Zeke Miller in Madrid, Karl Ritter in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany and Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul contributed.
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Jill Lawless And Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press