This week on the podcast we look at the latest developments relating to Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO. This week the Hungarian parliament finally ratified Finland’s membership to the alliance, two weeks after President Erdogan in Turkey gave his seal of approval following a meeting with the Finnish president. Sweden however remains trapped in limbo, with both Turkey and Hungary delaying Stockholm’s membership and Erdogan in particular asking for more concessions. We discuss why Turkey and Hungary took issue with Sweden and Finland, what the strategic situation in the Baltic looks like now with only Finland in NATO, and the challenges facing Sweden amid fraught ties with President Erdogan?

We also look ahead to Turkey’s presidential election in May. Recent opinion polls point to a neck-and-neck race with some polls even showing President Erdogan falling behind the opposition. Turkish voters cast their votes on 14 May, so we discuss what the sentiment is like in Turkey ahead of the election, and how will the world respond to a potential change of power in Ankara for the first time in 20 years?

Joining Bronwen Maddox on the podcast his week is Henri Vanhanen, a Research Fellow with Finnish Institute of International Affairs and Galip Dalay, an Associate Fellow with our Middle East and North Africa Programme.

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The Abraham Accords and Israel–UAE normalization

Russia’s aggression and a crisis for multilateralism

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Presented by Bronwen Maddox. Produced by John Pollock. Sound by Abdul Boudiaf and Alex Moyler