Responding to the news circulating in recent weeks, today, Wednesday (18/5/2022), Finland and Sweden have officially volunteered to become members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
For the majority of NATO members, there is no problem with the inclusion of the two Scandinavian countries. However, there is a stumbling block from Turkey, precisely Turkey, which is a senior member of NATO, balks at the inclusion of Sweden and Finland as members of NATO.
From several international media sources, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it would be impossible for Turkey, which is a former member of NATO, to support Sweden and Finland in joining the military alliance.
Erdogan insisted Ankara did not have a "positive view" on the steps Scandinavian countries hoped to join NATO. Instead, he accused the two countries of being "homes for terrorist organizations".
Turkey has criticized Sweden and other Western European countries for their handling of organizations deemed "terrorist" by Ankara, including the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), and their followers. There is also the United States-based Muslim Scholar, Fethullah Gulen. Ankara says that Gulenis staged a coup attempt in 2016.
Turkey's stance could pose problems for Sweden and Finland, given that all 30 NATO allies must unanimously approve the new country to be part of the US-led alliance.
However, politics is fluid and full of lobbies that can lead to unexpected decisions. Quoted from Topwar.ru (05/18/2022), it is stated that Turkey may agree to the inclusion of Sweden and Finland as members of NATO, provided that all sanctions imposed on Turkey related to the procurement of the S-400 defense system must be lifted.
Bloomberg reported that Ankara filed a request for the lifting of sanctions, previously imposed in connection with Russia's purchase of the S-400 Triumph guided missile system.
The big point of the sanctions imposed by the United States on Turkey is Turkey's expulsion from the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet development program, which at the same time cancels Turkey's hopes of having the F-35.
Not only that, various NATO countries, such as Canada, Britain and Germany, have refused to supply spare parts for Turkish defense products, as was the case with Baykar Makina with the Bayraktar TB2 combat drone. Sanctions were also imposed against Turkey's Directorate of Defense Industries with account freezing.
As is known, sanctions against Turkey were introduced under the CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Ac) law created during the US presidency of Donald Trump which prohibits military technical cooperation with the Russian Federation.
The Americans decided to make their laws extraterritorial and, as they say, did not hesitate to use them even against NATO countries.
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