The United States(US) wants Sweden‘s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) to be approved without the supply of F-16s to Türkiye. Reuters news agency reported that Türkiye rejected this demand. Ankara reportedly postponed the ratification of Sweden’s membership of the alliance.
Russia’s attempt to invade Ukraine, which has caused the most violent conflicts on the European continent since the Second World War, and the changing balances in the world have caused many countries to turn towards new or existing alliances. The Scandinavian country Sweden has officially applied to join NATO, a step it did not take even during the Cold War.
SWEDEN’S NATO MEMBERSHIP DEPENDS ON TÜRKİYE’S APPROVAL
Sweden, which has no border with Russia, needs the green light from all 31 member states for its application to be approved. Türkiye has announced that it will not approve the application unless steps are taken to address PKK/YPG and FETO-linked activities and the presence of individuals in Sweden. TurkishPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who met at the NATO Summit in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, announced thatthey had reached an agreement on the Scandinavian country’s NATO membership.
In this process, Türkiye expects the Biden administration to take a step, recalling the development that took place after the US conditioned the approval of Sweden’s NATO membership for the procurement of F-16s. It is stated that Türkiye has postponed the process of approving Sweden’s NATO membership due to the lack of a clear response from Washington.
TÜRKİYE WANTS F-16S
According to Reuters, two sources close to the matter said Türkiye wants to finalize the Swedish approval at the same time as the US approval of the 20 billion dollar F-16 sale.
“Given the lack of trust on the F-16 and Sweden issue, Türkiye is in no hurry to ratify NATO membership and is looking for signs that the US is taking concurrent steps,” the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) official said.
AGREEMENT WITH SWEDEN
Türkiye wants Sweden to fight terrorist organizations, extradite criminals to Türkiye, and lift restrictions on the sale of defense equipment to Türkiye in order to approve Sweden’s membership. At the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, President Erdogan added to Türkiye’s demands for Sweden to become a member of NATO, asking European countries to “pave the way” for Türkiye’s European Union(EU) membership in order for Türkiye to give the green light for membership.
On the other hand, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, which will also discuss Sweden’s NATO membership, has not received a bill to approve Sweden’s membership since the opening of parliament on October 1.
Source : Turkiye