Biden Waits “Anxiously” for Sweden to Join NATO
Biden Waits “Anxiously” for Sweden to Join NATO
On Wednesday, President Biden conveyed to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson that he was “anxiously looking forward” to Sweden’s admittance into NATO. The two leaders have a same objective of bolstering the Western alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Both parties emphasised the possible advantages that may be gained by including Sweden in the group during their discussion at the White House: “We also do think that we have things to contribute,” Mr. Kristersson said to the president as they met in the Oval Office. “We also do think that we have things to contribute,” Mr.
However, with less than a week until Vice President Biden and other NATO leaders are expected to fly to a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, the addition of Sweden is still improbable any time soon due to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey’s continuing resistance. The conference is planned to take place on June 1. Mr. Erdogan has prevented the membership application from moving further on the grounds that Sweden has provided sanctuary to Kurdish refugees and exiles linked with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Turkey views as a terrorist organisation.
In light of the fact that the conflict in Ukraine continues to go on, this is an extremely important matter for NATO, which would want to avoid any appearance of internal strife at its annual summit. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the previous year, Sweden decided to end decades of neutrality and make a formal application to join NATO. Mr. Erdogan has also devoted a significant amount of time and energy into the problem. For a long time, he has argued that Western nations do not take his worries about terrorist attacks carried out by Kurds seriously enough.
According to Bloomberg, the foreign minister of Hungary stated on Tuesday that his nation would sign off once Turkey had done so. Every other member of the NATO alliance has accepted Sweden’s membership, except for Hungary, whose foreign minister said on Tuesday that his country would sign off once Turkey had done so. Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary for the White House, told reporters on Wednesday that Vice President Joe Biden will “continue to be outspoken” about Sweden entering the alliance. However, Mr. Biden also stated that the decision to admit Sweden would ultimately be made by the group’s 31 members.
Officials from western nations have spent the better part of a year trying to appease the head of Turkey, but to no effect. And while authorities from the United States have stated that the issue is one that should be resolved directly between Turkey and Sweden, Vice President Joe Biden has stated that he is in favour of selling new F-16 fighter planes and upgrade kits to Turkey, something Mr. Erdogan has been requesting from the United States for a long time.
Officials from the United States have insisted that their support for the arms trade is unrelated to Mr. Erdogan’s stance on Sweden. However, during a phone chat with the Turkish leader at the end of May, Mr. Biden stated to the press that “He still wants to work on something on the F-16s.” I informed him that we were interested in making a business arrangement with Sweden, so let’s get that taken care of.
It is not apparent what other factors, in addition to the fighter planes, would sway Mr. Erdogan to change his position. The leader of Turkey has sent a request to the Swedish government to extradite or expel a large number of individuals who are involved with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party as well as other individuals whom he considers to be enemies of the state. Sweden has expelled some of the individuals mentioned by Ankara, but many more continue to be in the country.
On Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans largely agree that Turkey needs to take action to allow Sweden to join NATO before the Biden administration will even consider giving Ankara any F-16 fighters. This is a prerequisite for the administration to even consider delivering F-16 jets to Turkey. However, it is not obvious whether such a concession by Turkey would satisfy congressional leaders who are in a position to hold up the sale and who have raised further complaints. Some of these leaders have already expressed new concerns.A number of influential members of Congress,
such as Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have indicated that they will do everything in their power to prevent an F-16 purchase from going through until Mr. Erdogan clears the way for Swedish membership. It is not apparent, according to the analysts, whether or not Mr. Biden will be able to convince them to modify their viewpoint.
As recently as Monday, Mr. Erdogan restated, in vehement fashion, his opposition to Sweden’s accession.
Mr. Erdogan stated that “we have made it clear that the determined fight against terrorist organisations and Islamophobia are our red line.” “Everyone needs to realise that the friendship of Turkey cannot be won by supporting terrorists or by allowing terrorists to have space in our society,”
Since the spring of last year, when Sweden and Finland initially applied jointly to join the alliance—an event that Mr. Biden characterised as a significant defeat for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia—Mr. Erdogan has been steadfast in his stance.
The length of Finland’s border with Russia is around 1,390 kilometres (830 miles), making it the nation in the European Union with the longest border with the country. Due to the fact that Sweden’s only border with Russia is a marine one, the country is less vulnerable to Russian aggression; yet, Sweden and Finland have strong military ties.
The leader of Turkey has reversed his position on Finland, which was successful in gaining the requisite unanimous agreement in April to join the alliance and become its 31st member.
