https://sputnikglobe.com/20230707/turkey-unlikely-to-approve-swedens-nato-bid-by-vilnius-summit-1111718168.html
Turkiye Unlikely to Approve Sweden's NATO Bid by Vilnius Summit
Turkiye Unlikely to Approve Sweden's NATO Bid by Vilnius Summit
Sputnik International
Chances are slim that Turkey will approve Sweden's bid to join NATO in time for the NATO leaders' meeting in Vilnius next week, as the recent Quran burning is still fresh in Turkish minds, experts told Sputnik.
2023-07-07T09:27+0000
2023-07-07T09:27+0000
2023-07-08T19:00+0000
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The efforts by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at reconciling the two sides after last week's torching of the holy Muslim book outside a Stockholm mosque failed on Thursday. Stoltenberg said after a meeting of the Turkish and Swedish foreign ministers in Brussels that Sweden's membership was "within reach." He will next host a summit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Monday, on the eve of the Vilnius gathering. Jenkins, a non-resident senior research fellow with the Joint Center Silk Road Studies Program and Turkiye Center at the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm, said he still expected Turkiye to ratify Sweden's entry into NATO before the end of 2023 but suggested that Ankara needed time to cool off. Meanwhile, Huseyin Bagci, president of the Turkish Foreign Policy Institute and professor of international relations at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, said Turkiye would not outright refuse to ratify Sweden's entry at the July 11-12 summit but would ask for more time to decide. At the same time, Bagci accused Sweden of trying to "sit on two chairs" by attempting to join the alliance while disregarding an ally's culture and religious traditions. He said the burning of a copy of the Quran by an Iraqi immigrant created a "clash of civilizations" that would weigh on Turkish-Swedish relations in the long run. Jenkins said there was little Sweden could do now to appease Turkiye. He ruled out NATO pressuring Ankara to clear Sweden, or Turkiye doing something that would go beyond criticism of NATO and specifically of the United States. Although there is no direct link between US attempts to bring Sweden into the alliance and its potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkiye, the latter expects clarity on the deal before it allows Sweden to join, while the US Congress wants Turkiyeto ratify Sweden’s NATO membership before it approves the sale, Jenkins said. Birol Baskan, a former non-resident scholar at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, told Sputnik that Turkiye was playing its "NATO card" to extract more concessions from both the US and the Nordic nation, including its readmission to the US-led F-35 program, from which it was expelled in 2019. Bagci argued that Turkiye and NATO were not simply doing "horse trading" and that the mere sale of F-16s would not be enough. He said Sweden put itself, Turkiye and the entire alliance in a difficult position by allowing the Quran-burning protest to take place. Sweden and Finland submitted their applications to join the alliance in May 2022, soon after Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine. Finland's application has been ratified by all 30 members of the alliance, while Sweden's application is still pending approval by Hungary and Turkiye, with the accession process stalled in part due to controversial Quran-burning demonstrations in Stockholm. The latest took place on June 28, the first day of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230706/sweden-faces-us-pressure-to-join-nato-despite-reluctance-turkish-media-claims-1111692995.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230612/pentagon-reportedly-refuses-to-take-any-more-f-35s-until-system-woes-are-solved-1111097144.html
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Turkiye Unlikely to Approve Sweden's NATO Bid by Vilnius Summit
09:27 GMT 07.07.2023 (Updated: 19:00 GMT 08.07.2023) MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Chances are slim that Turkiye will approve Sweden's bid to join NATO in time for the NATO leaders' meeting in Vilnius next week, as the recent Quran burning is still fresh in Turkish minds, experts told Sputnik.
The efforts by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at reconciling the two sides after last week's torching of the holy Muslim book outside a Stockholm mosque failed on Thursday. Stoltenberg said after a meeting of the Turkish and Swedish foreign ministers in Brussels that Sweden's membership was "within reach." He will next host a summit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Monday, on the eve of the Vilnius gathering.
"I think it will now be very difficult for the Turkish parliament to ratify Sweden's application to join NATO before the alliance holds its summit in Vilnius. The burning of the Quran received a lot of coverage in the Turkish media and has been publicly condemned," Turkiye expert Gareth Jenkins told Sputnik.
Jenkins, a non-resident senior research fellow with the Joint Center Silk Road Studies Program and Turkiye Center at the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm, said he still expected Turkiye to ratify Sweden's entry into NATO before the end of 2023 but suggested that Ankara needed time to cool off.
Meanwhile, Huseyin Bagci, president of the Turkish Foreign Policy Institute and professor of international relations at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, said Turkiye would not outright refuse to ratify Sweden's entry at the
July 11-12 summit but would ask for more time to decide.
At the same time, Bagci accused Sweden of trying to "sit on two chairs" by attempting to join the alliance while disregarding an ally's culture and religious traditions. He said the burning of a copy of the Quran by an Iraqi immigrant created a "clash of civilizations" that would weigh on Turkish-Swedish relations in the long run.
Jenkins said there was little Sweden could do now to appease Turkiye. He ruled out NATO pressuring Ankara to clear Sweden, or Turkiye doing something that would go beyond criticism of NATO and specifically of the United States.
"Defying Washington, which has made it very clear that it would like Sweden to join NATO at Vilnius, plays well with Erdogan’s hardcore supporters and his narrative that under his leadership Turkiye has become able to pursue an independent foreign policy," he said.
Although there is no direct link between US attempts to bring Sweden into the alliance and its potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkiye, the latter expects clarity on the deal before it allows Sweden to join, while the US Congress wants Turkiyeto ratify
Sweden’s NATO membership before it approves the sale, Jenkins said.
Birol Baskan, a former non-resident scholar at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, told Sputnik that Turkiye was playing its "NATO card" to extract more concessions from both the US and the Nordic nation, including its readmission to the US-led F-35 program, from which it was expelled in 2019.
"The US can bring Turkiye back to F-35 program or agree to the modernization of F-16s or stop supporting the PYD [Syrian Kurdish militia] in Syria," he suggested.
Bagci argued that Turkiye and NATO were not simply doing "horse trading" and that the mere sale of
F-16s would not be enough. He said Sweden put itself, Turkiye and the entire alliance in a difficult position by allowing the Quran-burning protest to take place.
"There is a crisis and the secretary general of NATO should manage it. How it will be we will see next week in Brussels. Otherwise, Swedish membership needs to wait for another summit of NATO but not the Vilnius one," he predicted.
Sweden and Finland submitted their applications to join the alliance in May 2022, soon after Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine. Finland's application has been ratified by all 30 members of the alliance, while Sweden's application is still pending approval by Hungary and Turkiye, with the accession process stalled in part due to controversial Quran-burning demonstrations in Stockholm. The latest took place on June 28, the first day of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha.
