President Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan links Ankara's ratification of Sweden's application to join NATO with the United States' approval of Turkey's Turkey's request to purchase F-16 fighter jets. This was reported by the Voice of America", writes UNN.
Details
It is noted that he also called on Canada to lift the arms embargo on Turkey.
Erdogan made the announcement after returning from Hungary, the only country besides Turkey, which has not officially approved Sweden's application to join the military alliance.
For reference
Turkey has been postponing ratification of Sweden's membership for more than a year.
The delay has disappointed other NATO members, who quickly supported the accession of Sweden and Finland into the alliance after they abandoned their long-standing neutrality over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
What preceded
More In June 2022, a trilateral agreement was signed between Turkey and Sweden, Sweden and Finland, and under this agreement, the two Scandinavian countries began to to meet Turkey's "counterterrorism" requirements. Turkey and Hungary did not approve Sweden's membership. The reason for this Ankara cited Sweden's failure to take sufficient steps in the "the fight against terrorism". Subsequently, Sweden negotiated with Turkey: the country changed the "Anti-Terrorism Law" and some provisions of the of the Constitution, and the arms embargo on Ankara was lifted. Ankara. Thus, the two countries created a new mechanism for cooperation in the field of security.
Recall
On Tuesday, December 19, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that the European Union will slow down the accession of Ukraine and Moldova, adding that Ankara has long earned the right to join the bloc, but is being forced to wait for political reasons.