Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has berated Sweden for harbouring “scoundrels and terrorists”. He has called its government “evil” for allowing a Koran to be burnt on the streets of Stockholm. The Turkish president at one point even told Sweden “not to bother” with its Nato application.

Then, at a summit in Lithuania on Monday, Erdo?an said yes. To a peal of applause, he endorsed Sweden’s membership of the military alliance, praised the negotiating skills of its prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, and effectively pledged to defend Sweden’s borders like Turkey’s own.

Erdo?an’s dexterous political manoeuvre was greeted with relief across the alliance and marked the latest in a series of decisions that have “de-escalated” tensions between Ankara and the west. “We’re entering a new era of Turkey-western relations,” said Murat Ye?ilta?, director of foreign policy studies at Seta, a Turkish-think tank with close links to Erdo?an and his government.