Turkey Drops Opposition to Finland and Sweden Joining NATO - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15235923
Looks like Finland and Sweden will be joining NATO soon!

Kevin Liptak, Niamh Kennedy, Sugam Pokharel, Kate Sullivan and Donald Judd of CNN wrote:Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said on Tuesday that Turkey has agreed to support Finland and Sweden's NATO membership bids, removing a major hurdle to the two countries joining the alliance.

Niinistö said in a statement that a joint memorandum on the matter was signed by Turkey, Finland and Sweden on Tuesday in Madrid ahead of what is shaping up to be a critical summit.

The joint memorandum underscores the commitment of Finland, Sweden and Turkey "to extend their full support against threats to each other's security," Niinistö said.

"The concrete steps of our accession to NATO will be agreed by the NATO allies during the next two days, but that decision is now imminent," he added.

US and European officials had been eyeing the summit for potential progress in moving Finland and Sweden's applications forward to join NATO.

The two nations formally applied to be part of the security alliance in May, propelled by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had said repeatedly Turkey wouldn't support the bids, accusing the two countries of harboring members of the separatist militant Kurdistan's Workers Party, also known as PKK, which Turkey views as a terrorist organization.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said he is "confident" that Finland and Sweden will be able to successfully join NATO after the signing of the trilateral memorandum of understanding.

"I'm pleased to announce that we now have an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO. Turkey, Finland and Sweden have signed a memorandum that addresses Turkey's concerns, including around arms exports, and the fight against terrorism," Stoltenberg said, speaking to journalists in Madrid following the signing of the memorandum.


https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/28/politics ... index.html
#15236092
Politics_Observer wrote:
@late



Are you a Swede or Finn?

Or were you talking about we as in current NATO allies?



American.

Of course, Turkey wanted a significant quid pro quo..

We will eventually find out, of course, but it's big, and they will try to keep it under wraps as long as they can.
#15236096
Rancid wrote:
I wonder what did Sweden and Finland promise to Turkey around the PKK?



Odds are they were the primary part of the exchange. The Kurds will again get the crap kicked out of them.

That's almost a given, but I'd bet there's more, and that's what I'm curious about.
#15236098
Why would the US have given anything to Turkey? Sweden's and Finland's NATO-membership isn't all that important that it'd be worth it. The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by both the US and the EU, so Sweden and Finland only had to conform to that. Erdogan got what he wanted from them, especially Sweden, and that's it.
#15236100
Beren wrote:
Why would the US have given anything to Turkey?

Sweden's and Finland's NATO-membership isn't all that important that it'd be worth it.

The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by both the US and the EU, so Sweden and Finland only had to conform to that. Erdogan got what he wanted from them, especially Sweden, and that's it.



NATO.

For NATO, it's a big, hairy deal. You don't seem to realise how extreme the situation is.

Maybe, but my guess is there's more.
#15236102
late wrote:NATO.

For NATO, it's a big, hairy deal. You don't seem to realise how extreme the situation is.

Maybe, but my guess is there's more.

My point actually is that it's not so important to NATO, as it's not so important to Russia, it's rather important to Sweden and Finland themselves, so Erdogan couldn't ask for much here and he could only ask Sweden and Finland.
#15236106
Beren wrote:
My point actually is that it's not so important to NATO, as it's not so important to Russia, it's rather important to Sweden and Finland themselves, so Erdogan couldn't ask for much here and he could only ask Sweden and Finland.



Again, in my distinctly unhumble opinion, we were involved.
#15236108
Beren wrote:
Sure, you were involved diplomatically and convinced the Swedes and the Finns to concede.



This is how coalitions usually work. We do a lot of work, diplomatically, trying to keep things moving. It's also likely France and Germany were intimately involved as marriage counselors.

Diplomacy isn't exciting, so most never learn about it. But it's rarely easy.
#15236347
Beren wrote:My point actually is that it's not so important to NATO, as it's not so important to Russia, it's rather important to Sweden and Finland themselves, so Erdogan couldn't ask for much here and he could only ask Sweden and Finland.

We find a common ground with America. Biden administration shows some good will and Erdoğan accepts it. F-16 sales to Turkey is about to be finalized. We are also negotiating F-35 sale. Turkay and America also agreed on further strategic partnership against Russia, especially in the black sea region.

The same goes with the UK. Turkey's relationship with the Anglos gets better each day.
#15236349
Istanbuller wrote:
We find a common ground with America. Biden administration shows some good will and Erdoğan accepts it. F-16 sales to Turkey is about to be finalized. We are also negotiating F-35 sale. Turkay and America also agreed on further strategic partnership against Russia, especially in the black sea region.

The same goes with the UK. Turkey's relationship with the Anglos gets better each day.



Thought there would be more, thanks for the info.

Kurds can't seem to ever catch a break..
#15236408
Istanbuller wrote:We find a common ground with America. Biden administration shows some good will and Erdoğan accepts it. F-16 sales to Turkey is about to be finalized. We are also negotiating F-35 sale. Turkay and America also agreed on further strategic partnership against Russia, especially in the black sea region.

The same goes with the UK. Turkey's relationship with the Anglos gets better each day.


Congratulations on your country choosing the correct side, although I have to say your country is bound to profit either way.
#15236411
late wrote:Kurds can't seem to ever catch a break..

Get themselves a coast and we can start taking themselves seriously as a nation. To aid the Kurds we have to go through Turkey, Iran, Iran aligned Iraq or Assad's Syria. This is the same issue we had in Afghanistan. once we lost the friendship of Afghanistan's northern neighbours, any aid to allies in Afghanistan had to pass through Pakistan. But Pakistan was and is the enemy. I mean seriously is anyone so nieve as to believe that Osama Bin Laden conducted his war against the United States from Taliban territory without ISI approval. An ally is useless if aiding them makes us dependent on an enemy.
#15236419
Rich wrote:Get themselves a coast and we can start taking themselves seriously as a nation.


As a matter of fact this is the rationale behind Russian militarism.

This statement is a typical example of blaming the victim (Kurds), and not even a good try of it.
#15236449
late wrote:Thought there would be more

In my opinion the US meant to sell those F-16s to Turkey anyway to keep the Turkish government in the Western camp, so they sweetened the deal for Erdogan with them now. The rest that was mentioned (F-35 negotiations, strategic partnership in the Black Sea, improving relations in general) has nothing to do with Sweden's and Finland's NATO bid.
#15236451
Beren wrote:
In my opinion the US meant to sell those F-16s to Turkey anyway to keep the Turkish government in the Western camp, so they sweetened the deal for Erdogan with them now. The rest that was mentioned (F-35 negotiations, strategic partnership in the Black Sea, improving relations in general) has nothing to do with Sweden's and Finland's NATO bid.



Maybe.

But I doubt it, there was a quid pro quo for us, as well.

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