Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan has abruptly reversed his position on Sweden's accession to NATO.
It is particularly odd given that just a few days ago he was trying to tie this to Turkey joining the EU.
Either someone found a VERY credible threat to used against him, or he got some sort of commitment from Brussels:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday agreed to support Sweden’s NATO bid, a high-stakes, last-minute reversal that came after a year of obstruction and on the eve of a major alliance summit.
The deal, announced Monday in the Lithuanian capital, does not confer membership. But if Turkey and fellow holdout Hungary indeed ratify Swedish accession, NATO will grow, cementing a major shift in European security in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“This is a historic day,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, expressing confidence that Erdogan would move quickly to have the Turkish legislature approve the ratification. Hungary has said it does not want to be last to ratify, and Stoltenberg said “that problem will be solved.”
………
In exchange for giving a green light to Sweden this time, Erdogan got Stockholm to agree to continue counterterrorism cooperation with Ankara. Sweden also said it would push inside the European Union to reduce trade barriers with Turkey and to make it easier for Turkish citizens to enter the E.U. Stoltenberg agreed to appoint a NATO counterterrorism coordinator, long a request of Turkey’s.
The joint news release said Sweden “reiterates” it would not support groups Turkey regards as terrorist entities — a key Erdogan demand — including a movement accused of trying to overthrow Erdogan’s government in 2016 and a Kurdish militia in Syria affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has fought a long insurgency against the Turkish government.
Again, I wish that I had a clue what the f%$# was going on here.
0 comments :
Post a Comment