Turkey achieves a political victory.. What did Sweden offer to Ankara for NATO membership?

Translation Introduction:

Jacqueline Feldscher, senior national security correspondent for Defense One, and Elizabeth Brau, a researcher and fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, have produced reports highlighting the beginning of the process for Sweden and Finland to join NATO in the wake of its recent summit in Madrid. , against the backdrop of weeks of difficult negotiations between them and Turkey to push it to change its position rejecting their accession, and their having to agree to most of Ankara's demands.

Translation text:

Turkey announced its support for Finland and Sweden's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) weeks after blocking the two countries' bids to join NATO, said the alliance's Secretary General on June 28 during the alliance's annual summit.

The leaders of the three countries (Turkey, Sweden and Finland) met in the Spanish capital, "Madrid" to discuss Ankara's reservations about their policies and how to resolve them a week before the annual NATO summit, and members of the alliance discussed the dangers that NATO faces, especially the best way to defend its members in the midst of the Russian war on Ukraine. .

Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, told a press conference on the sidelines of the Atlantic Summit: “I am pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO. We have always demonstrated in NATO that whatever our differences, we can To sit down together and find common ground and resolve the outstanding issues between us."

At the same time, US President Joe Biden attended in Madrid for the NATO summit, and a meeting took place between him and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The situation of Finland and Sweden, and the amazing effort you are making to export grain from Ukraine and Russia, I mean it when I say it, you are doing a great job”*.

Quick Shift

The Scandinavian countries applied for membership last May after decades of neutrality (between Moscow and Washington during and after the Cold War)*, a request that needs the approval of all members of the alliance, all of whom welcomed it except for Turkey, where the latter initially objected until it reached Understandings allowed the leaders of the alliance to officially announce the invitation of Sweden and Finland.

Turkey justified its refusal at the time, saying that Sweden supported the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) (which is classified as a terrorist organization as well as in a number of Western capitals)*.

Stoltenberg did not say whether the two countries would actually join NATO eventually or not, but he indicated that it was "the fastest accession process to NATO in its history", from the application request to the alliance's issuance of the official invitation, adding that he trusted the ability of the three countries - Turkey, Sweden and Finland - to abide by the commitments they made in the Memorandum of Understanding signed between them.

General Christopher Cavoli, the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and former commander of the US Army in Europe and Africa, said that the two countries will contribute militarily from their first day in the alliance, as the Finnish army is well trained and armed with sufficient equipment, and is undoubtedly an expert - according to Cavoli - in Protecting its more than 1,300 km border with Russia.

Moreover, the Finnish military already uses US combat aircraft, and announced last February that it would buy 64 of the newest F-35s in the US fleet, making the two countries' weapons militarily compatible.

As for Sweden, although its military is smaller, it spends generously on its defense effort, and will increase its military budget by more than $300 million this year.

Cavoli added that the Swedish military is particularly important in deterring Russia at sea.

However, the warm reception almost made everyone forget the very slow negotiations that took place between Sweden and Finland on the one hand, and the only ally that obstructed their membership - Turkey - on the other, perhaps forgetting that the official door to membership was opened, which took place a few hours before the Atlantic summit in an atmosphere fraught with anxiety. It has already been achieved thanks to Turkey getting most of its requests, including highlighting its unique role within NATO.

Turkey snatches a political victory

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (c), along with Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu (left), and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right), after an agreement to overturn the Turkish veto on access from Finland and Sweden to NATO (European)

So what happened to peace and harmony among the members of the Alliance these days?

In their tripartite memorandum signed on June 28, in which Stoltenberg and Biden mediated between its parties to come to light, Turkey, Sweden and Finland agreed that “the two future NATO allies will give their full support to Turkey in the face of threats to its national security.” In order to achieve this goal, the two countries will not provide their assistance to the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units and the associated Democratic Union Party (YPG/PYD), as well as the so-called “Fath Allah Terrorist Organization (FETO)” (formerly known as the Hizmet Movement, and led by the preacher). Islamist Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of being involved in the 2016 coup attempt)*. Then the memorandum also stipulated that “

This was a victory for Turkey.

In November 2021, Sweden's ruling Social Democratic Party pledged to deepen its cooperation with the Democratic Union Party (PYD), an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

But why did Sweden's social democrats decide to deepen their cooperation with this then-unfamiliar partner?

Simply because they were trying to secure a parliamentary majority for the minority government they led at the time, and in order to reach their goal, they had to co-opt MP Amina Kakapawe, the Swedish parliamentarian and former Kurdish peshmerga, who was previously expelled from the Left Party and became an independent member. Since then.

Kakabawe used her power to the fullest extent possible when she demanded support for Kurdish causes before giving her voice to the ruling party, and it seemed - in fact - that she was very much enjoying the political power she had suddenly acquired.

“Everyone is now kneeling to Erdogan because of the crisis with Putin,” Kakabawe commented on the recent developments in one of her many interviews with the international press.

However, the Swedish parliament, which expired last June, will restart after the next parliamentary elections in September, so Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson no longer owes anything to Kakabow, who cannot be re-elected. Then Anderson signed the memorandum with Turkey.

As for Finland, it was not really a real obsession for Turkey.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson

Although the key to any agreement between more than one country lies in its actual implementation or not, the Swedish-Finnish-Turkish memorandum is undoubtedly a victory for Ankara.

In addition to their repudiation of support for the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, Sweden and Finland pledged to lift the arms export ban that they had previously imposed on Turkey (and Sweden is one of the most important arms manufacturers in Europe)*, and the two countries pledged to "rapidly and carefully consider requests for deportation and extradition submitted by Turkey." against those suspected of involvement in terrorist operations, taking into account the information, evidence and intelligence provided by Turkey."

President Erdogan has already explained to the Turkish media what this means, which is that Sweden must now hand over to Turkey 73 terrorism suspects.

In the words of a senior NATO official in an interview with "Elizabeth Brau", "Sweden and Finland learned their first lesson in collective defense," which is that some members of the group are difficult to understand with, and perhaps even very stubborn, but the interest of enhancing security for all forces them to work together.

On the other hand, Sweden and Finland, of course, seek to reduce the extent of their implementation of the memorandum signed with Turkey, but it is now established for all that Erdogan's obstruction of their membership in the beginning was not - as many thought - only for the sake of the F-16s. The essence of the matter was the file "Kurdish terrorism", which is a very real national security problem for Ankara.

While both countries wanted to enter NATO, Erdogan seized the opportunity and demanded the concessions he had long wanted from them.

As for the F-16s, Washington has sent signals that it is ready to sell combat aircraft to Ankara, as well as equipment to modernize the aircraft of the same model in Turkey. On the other hand, inside Stockholm, the recent transformation came as miserable news for the Kurdish community, but Sweden needed to Balancing matters for its own security and national interests against the interests of a society most of which lives in the Middle East in the end, NATO showed its unity at the Madrid summit (as he wanted), something that Putin is undoubtedly closely following.

*Translator's Notes

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This article is translated from Defense one and does not necessarily reflect the Meydan website.

Translation: Nour Khairy.