President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dropped his opposition to Stockholm’s application to join the Western military bloc. So, now, NATO has cleared the way for Sweden to join the Western military alliance.
Türkiye had stood in the way of NATO’s latest expansion, using its veto power largely on concern that Sweden hadn’t done enough to help crack down on pro-Kurdish terrorist organizations.
US President Joe Biden has pressured Erdogan to drop his opposition to NATO’s expansion, suggesting that the issue must be resolved for Washington to approve a sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye.
The 31-nation alliance requires unanimous approval for all new members. Earlier on Monday, Erdogan suggested that Ankara would approve Sweden’s bid if Türkiye were welcomed into the European Union.
Stoltenberg, who denied any linkage between the NATO expansion and Türkiye’s EU accession, said Erdogan and Kristersson worked closely together to address Ankara’s legitimate security concerns.
Sweden has amended its constitution, changed its laws, significantly expanded its counter-terrorism operation against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), and resumed its arms exports to Türkiye.
Erdogan pledged to forward Sweden’s NATO bid to Turkish lawmakers as soon as possible and help ensure ratification, Stoltenberg said. A clear timeline hasn’t been set for Stockholm’s accession to the bloc.
Sweden and neighboring Finland applied for NATO membership last year, abandoning their long traditions of military neutrality on fears raised by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Finland was officially admitted to the alliance in April 2023, but Türkiye blocked Sweden’s application after accusing the country of sheltering Kurdish terrorists.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2023.
Turkey was officially neutral during World War II and did not support any of the opponents. Turkish soldiers did not take part in hostilities.
However, Turkey maintained strong diplomatic relations with Nazi Germany during the period of WW ll.
Turkey remained neutral until the final stages of World War II and tried to maintain an equal distance between both the Axis and the Allies until February 1945, when Turkey entered the war on the side of the Allies against Germany and Japan.
Turkey has succumbed, the spider catching the fly.
I can only shake my head in disbelief –How Mr. Putin can continue to be “friends ” with an obvious two-faced traitorous turncoat ,never in this world would I want to be associated with this Janus faced individual .
Never could I trust him to issue one word of truth out of his mouth.
But turning your back on these creatures is a no-go, because they can not be trusted. Keeping your enemies close gives them less power to do so, once enemies Genie escapes from the bottle.
You have a point but it would be very hard for me to do as I am very straightforward even to my own detriment I find it hard to accept evil/devious people.