Turkey and Sweden fail to end their NATO membership standoff. Their leaders will try again on Monday

By LORNE COOK
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — Sweden failed Thursday to convince Turkey to lift its objections to the country joining NATO. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says some progress was made in talks at NATO. But he’s called a meeting between Turkey’s president and Sweden’s prime minister on Monday in an effort “to bridge the gap we still see.” The meeting will take place in Lithuania on the eve of a NATO summit there. Sweden gave up a history of non-alignment to apply to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Turkey accuses Sweden of being too lenient on groups that Ankara says pose a security threat. Stoltenberg insists enough progress has been made. He says “now it is time for Sweden to join the alliance.”