A Turkish parliamentary committee approved Sweden’s membership of the Atlantic Alliance this Tuesday, bringing the Nordics closer to joining NATO.
Turkey is the last member of NATO, along with Hungary, to block Sweden’s accession to NATO, through successive demands, but this Tuesday the Foreign Affairs committee of the Turkish National Assembly once again analyzed the issue, having o put it to a vote and giving the green light to the Nordics. Final approval from parliament will still be required to complete the process.
Sweden submitted its application for NATO membership at the same time as Finland – which was admitted in April – after the start of the Russian war in Ukraine.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opposed Swedish accession from the beginning of the process, alleging Stockholm’s collusion with some Kurdish movements that he considers terrorist.
Erdogan’s resistance was overcome after a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden this month, after which Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan began to admit an acceleration of the ratification process of Swedish accession.
Still, Erdogan added as a condition for Ankara’s green light the simultaneous ratification by the US Congress of the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.
Previously, Turkey had already played this ‘card’ to try to obtain authorization to acquire F-16s, which it needs to modernize its Air Force.
Biden’s US government is not opposed to this sale, but Congress has blocked it until now for political reasons, citing tensions with Greece, a NATO member country with which Ankara has recently become closer.