(Bloomberg) -- The leaders of Sweden and Turkey, engaged in a high-stakes meeting over the expansion of NATO, exchanged gifts evoking hundreds of years of history.
Footage shared with journalists by the Turkish government showed Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson presenting Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a copy of an alliance agreement struck in 1739 between Sweden and the Ottoman Empire, as he seeks to show that the Nordic nation is a true ally that deserves a place in NATO.
The accord with the predecessor of the modern Turkish Republic is a symbol of the two nations’ commitment to each others’ security, the Swedish leader told Erdogan. It was signed roughly two decades after Sweden’s King Charles XII sought refuge at an Ottoman castle following a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Poltava against the Russians. The ruler later became known as Demirbas, Turkish for fixed asset, for having his expenses borne by the Turks.
Erdogan’s Surprise
In return, Turkey’s president said he had a “surprise” for his guest: an undated letter from a Swedish envoy in Istanbul, which expressed his king’s gratitude for financial help from the Ottomans and their mediation between Sweden and Russia.
Erdogan also gave Kristersson a decree from the same period that documented shipment of wheat to Sweden as a form of aid, citing it as a historic example of Turkey’s mediation role.
“History repeating itself,” the Swedish premier said, according to the footage, in an apparent reference to Turkey’s role arbitrating in the war Russia started in Ukraine.
“It would not, if lessons were to be drawn,” Erdogan answered.
“Very much agreed,” Kristersson replied.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
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