Ankara has shown over the past years its readiness for confrontation with its Western partners
The siege of the Kurds and weapons are the most important demands of Turkey in exchange for the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO
Erdogan wants to make the biggest gains from "NATO".
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Finnish President Sauli Niinistö stresses that the Turkish position can be changed "through discussions".
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Finnish forces in military training as part of preparations to enter NATO.
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After Finland and Sweden submitted a formal application to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the European Union and the United States welcomed this request, Turkey has a very important card that it can use to obtain significant gains, whether from its NATO partners, or from Sweden Finland also, in light of Ankara's veto over the acceptance of new members of the alliance in accordance with its founding agreement, which requires the approval of all countries for the accession of any new country.
In an analysis published by Bloomberg News Agency, the Turkish writer, Silkan Hakaoglu, published the summary of his dialogue with three Turkish officials about what Turkey wants from the great risk, by its objection to Finland and Sweden joining NATO, where the Turkish position completely converges with the position of Russia, which NATO and the West in general consider Now the main enemy.
At the top of the files that Ankara puts forward for bargaining with Finland and Sweden, comes the file of the activity of the Kurds against the Turkish government in the two countries, where the Turks insist that any candidates to join NATO must acknowledge Turkish fears of Kurdish militias, whether inside Turkey or in Syria and Iraq.
This issue raises strong tensions within the alliance because, while most of its countries consider the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) a terrorist organization similar to Turkey, it supports the armed Kurdish factions on Syrian soil known as the People’s Protection Units, which are fighting the terrorist organization ISIS, while Ankara considers it a terrorist movement .
Action against sympathizers
Turkey calls on Sweden and Finland to declare not only their condemnation of the PKK, but also of all organizations and movements associated with it;
Where it considers that the mere designation of the party as a terrorist organization is not enough, but the two countries are required to limit the movement of sympathizers with the party, who are active on their soil.
In addition to the Kurdish file, Turkey is seeking to compel Sweden, Finland, and other European Union countries to cancel restrictions that were imposed on arms exports to Turkey following its invasion of Syrian territory in 2019 to keep the People's Protection Units (YPG) militants away from the Turkish border.
Although Turkey does not buy any significant weapons from the two countries, Turkish officials say it is a matter of principle, which is that countries that prevent the arming of one of the NATO countries cannot be accepted into the alliance.
Turkish officials also argue that the mistakes of the past should not be repeated when, in the 1980s, Turkey agreed to return Greece to NATO, after the two countries fought a war in Cyprus in 1974, when Cyprus and Greece subsequently blocked Turkey's attempts to join the European Union.
They also refused a UN vote on a plan to reunify the island of Cyprus, and have been involved in numerous border disputes with Turkey.
Turkish officials say that they will not repeat the mistake and will not accept the Swedes and Finns joining NATO before all disputes with Ankara are first settled, and the two countries publicly pledge solidarity with Turkey in confronting Kurdish groups.
Silkan Hakaoğlu says that while Turkish officials say that their country does not seek to compromise more than Sweden and Finland's positions on the Kurdish file, the reality is that Ankara will seek to fulfill a long list of demands from its NATO allies in exchange for withdrawing its objection to annexing the two Scandinavian countries.
lift sanctions
Turkey wants to return to the US F-35 fighter jet development and production program, from which it was excluded after purchasing the S-400 air defense systems from Russia.
Turkey also requests to acquire American "F-16" fighters, and to modernize the aircraft it has.
Turkey also wants the US sanctions imposed over the Russian S-400 missile deal lifted.
Hakaoglu believes that Turkey's exploitation of the NATO expansion file to obtain these demands will not be easy, but over the past years, Turkey has shown its willingness to confront its Western partners on many issues, starting with the S-400 deal and even its military operations against the Kurds in Syria and Iraq. .
At the same time, Turkish officials deny the existence of a relationship between Turkey's refusal to join Finland and Sweden in NATO, the strong Russian-Turkish relations in general, and the friendly relationship between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia's Vladimir Putin.
The officials also deny saying that the Turkish president seeks to exploit the file of NATO expansion to achieve external gains that support his position at home with the approach of the Turkish presidential elections next year, especially in light of the decline in the Turkish president's popularity against the backdrop of the severe economic crisis his country is going through.
In contrast, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö says that Turkey's position can be changed "through discussions" without referring to any specific Turkish demands.
Finland's Foreign Minister, Pekka Haavisto, says his government is in constant contact with Turkish diplomats.
He avoided talking about the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), and said that if the Turks were concerned about the PKK, it was on the terrorist lists in Finland.
• While Turkish officials say that their country does not seek to compromise more than Sweden and Finland's positions on the Kurdish file, the reality is that Ankara will seek to achieve a long list of demands from its NATO allies in exchange for withdrawing its objection to the annexation of the two Scandinavian countries.
• Turkish officials say that they will not repeat the mistake and will not accept the Swedes and Finns joining NATO before all disputes with Ankara are first settled, and the two countries publicly pledge solidarity with Turkey in the face of Kurdish groups.
Erdogan: Mitsotakis “no longer exists”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis "no longer exists" for him, accusing the Greek leader of trying to block the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey during a visit to the United States.
"We had agreed not to involve third countries in our dispute with him," Erdogan said in a press conference after the weekly Turkish cabinet meeting.
Despite this, he visited the United States last week, spoke in Congress and warned them not to give us F-16s.”
"He no longer exists for me," he said.
I would never agree to meet him.
We will go our way with honorable politicians.”
Turkey and Greece are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and are at odds over a range of issues including maritime borders, airspace and ethnically divided Cyprus.
During his visit to the United States, where he met with US President Joe Biden and senior US officials, last week, Mitsotakis said that Greece will begin the process of buying F-35 fighter jets from the United States by 2030.
After Erdogan's remarks, Greek government spokesman Giannis Oikonomo responded, saying that Mitsotakis defends Greece's rights and international law, and that Greece's foreign policy is also based on its alliances.
"We will not enter into an argument with the Turkish leadership," he said in a statement.
Our policy is a policy of principles.”
Ankara - Reuters
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