Turkey increases the pressure on Sweden ahead of F-16 talks with the US
(Bloomberg) —
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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu put fresh pressure on Sweden to make concessions when he traveled to the United States for talks on the sale of F-16 fighter jets, which could depend on Turkey’s ratification of NATO expansion.
Cavusoglu is expected to meet his US counterpart Antony Blinken in Washington later on Wednesday to discuss the aircraft sale as well as Turkey’s security concerns over US-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria.
Turkey has agreed to allies inviting Sweden and Finland to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but expansion has stalled as Ankara waits to ratify the applications. The United States, the most powerful country in the military alliance, has thrown its weight behind the Nordic nations. It is also using a potential $20 billion sale of F-16s as a lure to get Ankara to fall in line.
Cavusoglu’s meeting with Blinken comes amid heightened tensions between Turkey and Sweden after protesters erected a picture of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Stockholm last week. The move was condemned by Swedish decision-makers. It was also reported to the police as defamation, but a Swedish prosecutor declined to investigate, saying the incident was not a crime under Swedish law.
The decision not to take legal action is “absurd,” Cavusoglu said Tuesday during a joint news conference with visiting Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian.
Turkey has continued to urge Sweden to crack down on groups banned in Turkey, and Sweden insists it is following an agreement hammered out at NATO’s June summit in Madrid last year, which allowed the expansion process to go ahead despite initial opposition from Turkey. Nevertheless, Ankara remains dissatisfied and wants Sweden to take further steps, including the extradition of suspects, to change its position.
Sweden’s government cannot override courts in extradition cases where the judiciary has declined to send the accused to Ankara.
“Either they will fall victim to these mines laid by terrorists, or we will move forward by implementing the agreement we have signed with everyone’s safety in mind,” Cavusoglu said. “The choice is Sweden’s.”
With Erdogan facing crucial elections likely to take place in May and keen to consolidate support from nationalists, the situation appears more in limbo – although Nato diplomats are confident it will be resolved eventually, possibly in time for alliance summit in Vilnius in July.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, said there should be no obstacles to the Nordic countries joining NATO, as they meet all the criteria for membership set by the alliance and both have “crossed in all the boxes” during their application process.
— With the help of Niclas Rolander.
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