President Biden immediately signaled his approval, saying enlargement would “make NATO stronger” and a month earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a longtime ally of Putin, had told Finnish President Sauli Ni that he had no problem with enlargement. But Erdogan “can change 180 degrees in a second without looking back,” Turkish-born Cengiz Candar, a senior fellow researcher at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, told Yahoo News. On May 19, Erdogan did just that, announcing that Turkey would block Finland and Sweden from joining NATO quickly, which requires unanimous support from member states over its claim that the two nations are “hostages of terrorist organizations “. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Adem Altan / AFP via Getty Images) Former State Department diplomat Elizabeth Sackelford, now a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, told Yahoo News that the move was “Erdogan’s classic”, adding that she was not going to give up the opportunity to use leverage. is it better to do it than in an alliance based on unanimity of decisions? Erdogan’s demands are mainly focused on extraditing Turkish enemies, such as members of the militant group Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey has been fighting for 38 years, and supporters of Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. who claims to have been behind a 2016 coup attempt to oust him. Finland has released two of the 10 people on Turkey’s list and is reportedly evaluating another seven, while Sweden has passed a new anti-terrorism law. But Turkey is still unhappy and has insisted on extraditing others for crimes, including public criticism of Erdogan. “In order to fully meet all of Turkey’s demands, Sweden must be transformed into an alternative kind of authoritarian police state,” Paul Levin, director of the Institute of Turkish Studies at Stockholm University, told Yahoo News. The story goes on Finnish analysts share the sentiment. “Most of the requirements are impossible to meet, such as the release of a person just because he has used a Bylock [encrypted] “Toni Alaranta, a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Relations, told Balkan Insight that he had a request or wrote a Facebook comment critical of President Erdogan. “Many Kurds in Sweden are worried that Sweden is going to sacrifice them on the altar of NATO membership,” Levin said. While Stockholm plans to make concessions, he said, it is a stretched act. If the leaders give too much, “the Swedish government risks being accused of sacrificing long-term principles,” such as support for the Kurdish cause and civil liberties, or simply being generally relegated to an authoritarian regime with unacceptable demands – honestly, I think that’s the popular view here in Sweden. “ So far, Turkey has leveled most of its criticism at Sweden, which has a larger, politically mobilized Kurdish population of 100,000, prompting some Finns to question the wisdom of the two countries’ decision to jointly apply for NATO membership. “It is perfectly understandable that Turkey could, for many reasons, say yes to Finland but not to Sweden at the moment,” Charly Salonius-Pasternak, a senior fellow at the Finish Institute of International Affairs, told Euronews last week. He clarified his position this week in an email to Yahoo News. “I did not say that Finland should go it alone, but rather that it was not good – okay, potentially catastrophic – that the Finnish president said so clearly that he would [apply] hand in hand, “wrote Salonius-Pasternak. “I think it would be better for Finland and Sweden to come together, but giving so much power to everyone else seems a little short-sighted.” Were it not for Turkey’s opposition, Finland and Sweden would be on track to join NATO next week in Madrid. Now it’s a matter of speculation as to whether Erdogan will ever be satisfied. Announcement of the NATO summit in Madrid. (Eduardo Parra / Europa Press via Getty Images) “There is concern about the dangerous period of the gray zone in which we seem to be stuck,” Levin said, noting that Moscow now knows its plans, but NATO’s Article 5 security guarantee – that an attack on a member is an attack. in all – not yet valid. Former Secretary of Defense Evelyn Farkas, now executive director of the McCain Institute, told Yahoo News that the delay was a “real danger [that] endangers the security of Europe and millions of people. “ Making the Scandinavian leaders jump, Erdogan is making Putin’s offer, Çandar said. “Remember when we first heard speculation about the Swedish and Finnish NATO bid, Putin was very threatening and threatening,” Chandar said. “But since Erdogan intervened, have you heard Putin talk about Sweden and Finland joining NATO?” “Erdogan is doing his job.” But despite the attention given to Erdogan’s demands for the alleged terrorists, other factors are at work, analysts say, including his anger over a US-Turkish fighter jet deal that collapsed. Turkey has pledged $ 1.4 billion to buy four high-tech F-35s. In 2019, however, ignoring warnings from US officials, Erdogan bought a Russian air defense system – and the White House immediately refused to hand over the four planes or return the $ 1.4 billion advance. Turkey recently asked for the money to be used to upgrade its F-16s, a move approved by the Biden government but has not yet received the necessary approval from Congress. Erdogan’s case was not helped when Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, another enemy of Turkey, flew to Washington this month to make a high-level appeal to Congress not to approve Erdogan’s demands for F-16s and offered to take them. four F-16s that had not been delivered. Decade 35. In response, Erdogan announced that “from now on there is no one called Mitsotakis for me” and canceled bilateral talks with him. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. (Antonio Masiello / Getty Images) However, another of Erdogan’s obvious motives for making an outburst for Sweden and Finland joining NATO is domestic policy, Çandar said. Faced with elections next year in a country where inflation is soaring, Erdogan’s popularity is plummeting. “Official government figures put inflation at 70 percent,” said Chandar, who added that it was likely to be “close to 100 percent.” By blocking the entry of Sweden and Finland, Erdogan has attracted international attention. “Now everyone in the world is talking about the situation in Turkey and the security of Turkey,” he said, adding that it was a form of “image building” for Erdogan. “Certainly there is growing concern among NATO members about Erdogan’s continued theatricality,” Anna Wieslander, director for Northern Europe at the Atlantic Council, told Yahoo News. The view among NATO members, he said, has always been “it is better for Turkey to be inside NATO than outside NATO because of its strategy of value as a window into the Middle East.” However, tensions between Turkey and the United States are rising, he said, noting the deteriorating F-35 deal and the fact that cleric Gulen lives in the United States, which is refusing to extradite him to Turkey. “The level of trust” between Washington and Ankara “is not really there”, all this is pushing the alliance, he added. Farkas suggested to NATO allies that they continue to work with Turkey to resolve the issue, but impose a deadline that will coincide with next week’s summit. “If the deadline expires and Turkey continues to blockade Sweden and Finland, then all concessions, including arms sales from the United States, will have to end,” Farkas said. “This is probably the only way we can take action on this – and it is in the interest of the international community to allow this accession to proceed.”
