He President of the United States, Joe Bidenhas used a side-by-side meeting this Wednesday at the White House with the Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerssonto publicly renew your message of firm support for the entry of the Nordic country into NATO. That accession has been held back by Turkey and the delay in the entry of Sweden threatens crack the image of unity before Russia for the war in Ukraine that is intended to be projected on the annual summit that Atlantic Alliance held on Tuesday and Wednesday of the coming week in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.
“I want to reiterate that The US fully, fully, fully supports Sweden’s NATO membership.& rdquor ;, Biden said in the Oval Office in a few words before the press just before the bilateral. “The conclusion is simple,” he added: “Sweden will make our alliance stronger and has the same set of values that we have in NATO. And we are anxious that they are members & rdquor ;.
firm turkish rejection
The problem for Biden and Kristersson, and for NATO, is that they have so far failed to appease the Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s resistance to the entry of Sweden, a rejection that the Turkish prime minister expressed since last spring Sweden broke with centuries of non-alignment and requested its entry.
Erdogan, who did give the green light to Finland’s entry into the alliance in March, accuses Sweden of having welcomed exiles and refugees from Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which both Ankara and Brussels and Washington describe as “terrorist organization& rdquor ;, and of permissiveness in the face of pro-Kurdish and anti-Turkish protests.
This same Monday he returned to denounce that Sweden allows PKK sympathizers to display symbols in demonstrations in Stockholm and criticized that the Swedish police and justice had allowed the burning of pages of the Koran near the main mosque of the Swedish capital last week. “Are hate crimes that feed the hostility towards Islam& rdquor ;, denounced.
Hungary It has been added in addition to the blockade, although his foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, assured on Tuesday that they will give the green light to Sweden’s entry into NATO once Signal Türkiye that you are ready to do it.
sale of combat aircraft
For the US, a potential element to convince Turkey lies in a purchase of F-16 fighter jets that Ankara wants to carry out. sources of turkish governmenthowever, they ensure that the two issues cannot be linked. And also Biden needs congressional approvalwhere some prominent figures warn that they will not authorize the sale if Turkey does not accept Sweden into NATO.
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The hopes that the situation will be resolved before the Vilnius summit are minimal, but this Thursday the foreign headlines from Sweden, Türkiye and Finland they are going to keep a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels to try to make progress.