NATO chief convenes July 6 talks hoping to convince Turkey to let Sweden join

By LORNE COOK
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he’s called a meeting of senior officials on July 6 to try to overcome Turkish objections to Sweden joining the military alliance. The meeting is a last-ditch effort to have the Nordic country join NATO’s ranks at a major summit July 11-12. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz by phone and again raised his concerns over Sweden’s NATO membership. Hungarian lawmakers, meanwhile, said a long-delayed vote in parliament on ratifying Sweden’s NATO membership bid would not happen until the autumn legislative session. That would almost certainly mean the Nordic nation will not get the green light in time for the summit.