To everyone's surprise, at the start of the NATO summit in Vilnius, the recently re-elected Turkish President RT Erdogan gave his agreement to Sweden's membership in NATO, after a meeting with his counterpart Swedish Ulf Kristersson under the aegis of the General Secretary of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg.
To the great relief of the allies, the Turkish nationalist leader has indeed declared that he no longer opposes it, as he has been doing for more than a year now, and that he will transmit to his parliament the request for membership to obtain ratification of membership, which requires the unanimous agreement of all NATO members to be endorsed.
On the public scene, this change of posture of the Turkish president is only linked to a direct agreement with Stockholm, the Swedish authorities committing to support the process of rapprochement and Turkey's accession to the European Union. Exit, therefore, the blocking questions hitherto concerning the Kurdish leaders who have taken refuge in the country, whose extradition Ankara was demanding to give its blank check.
Behind the scenes, however, it seems that RT Erdogan's demands surrounding this authorization have been much greater than displayed. Thus, although assuring that the two subjects are in no way linked, Joe Biden and the US administration announced, just hours after the Turkish-Swedish announcement within the framework of the Vilnius summit, that they would support the Turkish request concerning the acquisition of new F-16V fighters and kits to convert part of its F-16 Block 50/52 to this standard.
Other echoes, with lower noises, refer to certain assurances given by European nations and the EU about a normalization of relations with Ankara, even though the Turkish economy is today battered with inflation galloping close to 40% over one year in June 2023, and unemployment remaining high, especially among young people.
But obviously there is no trust on either side of the commitments made, openly or unofficially. It is true that concerning several of them, the word of the Head of State engages only him, and is valid only if confirmed by a vote of the Legislative.
This is particularly the case of the sale of the F-16Vs to the Turkish air force, long awaited by Ankara, but blocked for several years not by the White House, which is rather favorable to the subject, but by the American Congress, much more vindictive. vis-à-vis the Turkish authorities.
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[…] just a few hours after the previous one, by President RT Erdogan, according to which the application for membership would not be transmitted to the Turkish parliament until the parliamentary resumption, either in […]