ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Turkish parliament’s overseas affairs committee was poised on Tuesday to renew deliberations on Sweden’s bid to affix NATO, days after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan linked the Nordic nation’s admission on U.S. approval of Turkey’s request to buy F-16 fighter jets.
NATO-member Turkey lifted its objection to Sweden becoming a member of the trans-Atlantic alliance in July however the ratification course of has since stalled in parliament. Turkey accuses Sweden of not taking Turkey’s safety issues severely sufficient, together with its struggle towards Kurdish militants and different teams that Ankara considers to be safety threats.
This month, Erdogan threw one other impediment by brazenly linking ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership to the U.S. Congress’ approval of Turkey’s request to buy 40 new F-16 fighter jets and kits to modernize its present fleet. The Turkish chief additionally known as on the 2 legislatures to behave “simultaneously” and mentioned Canada and different NATO allies should carry arms embargoes imposed on Turkey.
The White House has backed the Turkish F-16 request however there’s sturdy opposition in Congress to army gross sales to Turkey.
The Turkish parliament’s overseas affairs committee had begun discussing Sweden’s membership in NATO final month. The assembly nonetheless, was adjourned after legislators from Erdogan’s ruling get together submitted a movement for a postponement on grounds that some points wanted extra clarification and that negotiations with Sweden had not “matured” sufficient.
If authorised by the committee, Sweden’s bid would then should be authorised by the total meeting.
Sweden and Finland deserted their conventional positions of army nonalignment to hunt safety underneath NATO’s safety umbrella, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Finland joined the alliance in April, changing into NATO’s thirty first member, after Turkey’s parliament ratified the Nordic nation’s bid.
NATO requires the unanimous approval of all present members to develop, and Turkey and Hungary are the one international locations which were holding out. Hungary has stalled Sweden’s bid, alleging that Swedish politicians have instructed “blatant lies” in regards to the situation of Hungary’s democracy.
The delays have pissed off different NATO allies who had been swift to just accept Sweden and Finland into the alliance.
