Ankara Urges Not To Link F-16 Deal With Accession To NATO Of Sweden, Finland

Ankara Urges Not to Link F-16 Deal With Accession to NATO of Sweden, Finland

Ankara urges not to link the accession process of Sweden and Finland to NATO with Turkey's purchase of US F-16 fighter jets, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Tuesday

ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st January, 2023) Ankara urges not to link the accession process of Sweden and Finland to NATO with Turkey's purchase of US F-16 fighter jets, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Tuesday.

On May 18, 2022, against the backdrop of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership. Their accession protocols have already been ratified by all NATO members except Hungary and Turkey. Earlier in January, Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the far-right Danish political party Stram Kurs, burned a copy of the Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm after receiving permission for a protest from the Swedish authorities. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the demonstration and said Sweden should not count on Ankara's support for its NATO bid.

"We also hear that the US Congress can set such conditions. The (US) administration informed us about the absence of such a requirement or desire. If senators like Menendez make such a demand in Congress and approve Greece's F-35 application, it will be an open demonstration of the lack of impartiality within NATO. If there is such a demand, it will not be accepted by Turkey. It is better that they do not link the topic of the F-16 with the process of membership of Sweden and Finland in NATO. Turkey will not back down in this regard, these are different processes that do not depend on each other," Kalin told a briefing.