US F-16 Message to Turkey: “If Swedish and Finnish Membership in NATO is Not Approved…”
While far-right politician Rasmus Paludan’s burning of the Holy Quran near the Turkish embassy in Sweden made it difficult for Turkey to approve Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO membership, the United States sent an intimidating statement to Turkey.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: “If Sweden cannot respect the religious beliefs of Muslims, it will not receive any support from us in NATO.” Subsequently, the tripartite mechanism meeting between Turkey, Sweden and Finland was canceled indefinitely.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Sweden and Finland are ready to join NATO.
ERA AGENDA IN THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS
Meanwhile, the fact that the crisis took place during negotiations over the sale of US F-16s to Turkey led some to take the view that “we will not sell F-16s unless Turkey approves NATO expansion.” .
On the subject, very prominent statements came from the US Undersecretary of State, Victoria Nuland. The possible sale of F-16s to Turkey and Ankara’s objections to Swedish and Finnish NATO membership came to light at the session titled “Fighting Russian Aggression: Ukraine and Beyond” held yesterday at the Committee on US Senate Foreign Relations
In the session in which Victoria Nuland answered questions from the senators, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen stated that she will oppose the sale of the F-16 unless Turkey approves the entry into NATO of the two northern European countries. . Noting that President Erdogan seems to be using this situation for his internal interests, Shaheen said that this situation is against NATO’s interests.
Speaking about this comment, Nuland said: “We have also told our Turkish allies that we, as our allies, need the support of Congress to give them the security support that we think they need.” Nuland noted that Ankara’s approval of Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO membership will ensure that the sale of F-16s to Turkey will be viewed with more enthusiasm in the US Congress.
THE AMERICAN SPEAKER SPOKE DIFFERENTLY
On the other hand, these statements by Nuland, which have the character of “intimidation against Turkey”, appeared in the daily press briefing of the US State Department when Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel was asked how the Nuland’s words are interpreted as a “friendly proposal” by Ankara, while opposition to the sale of the F-16 continues in Congress, did not observe today’s session, but in general to the executive, President Joe Biden and the F-16 from the ministry, replied that they were very clear.
“We have made it clear that Turkey is an important NATO ally and that we will continue to support security operations within the NATO system. These two issues, namely the F-16s and the admission of Sweden and Finland to NATO, will remain separate; There is no reciprocity, ”he said.