Status: 05/18/2022 05:30 a.m
Turkey is at odds with NATO because Sweden and Finland want to join. At the meeting between US Secretary of State Blinken and his Turkish colleague Cavusoglu, the price at stake is likely to be Ankara’s approval.
Istanbul foreign policy expert Uluc Özülker put it in a nutshell: “There are more than a dozen problems between us and the United States.”
There is the dispute over the Kurdish militia YPG. For Turkey it is an offshoot of the Kurdish PKK in northern Syria, for the United States a partner in the fight against the Islamist terrorist militia IS.
For Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, this is absolutely unacceptable: “In fact, all US governments in recent years have financially supported the terrorist organization PKK and its offshoots in northern Syria. And they transported tools, equipment and ammunition there by truck.”
Controversy PKK
Sweden and Finland accuse Erdogan of being a guest house and breeding ground for the PKK. He demands that this be over. Expert Özülker explains:
The PKK is not a matter for negotiation. There is room for maneuver in many other areas. But the PKK has killed 40,000 people in Turkey. This is devastating. So I’m assuming that Turkey will resist Sweden’s accession and also stand firm against the United States.
In addition to the PKK, Ankara is also concerned with the Gülen movement, which they also see as a terrorist organization. She blames the Islamic preacher Fetullah Gülen for the 2016 coup attempt. And he lives undisturbed in the USA. But Erdogan wants to put him on trial in Turkey and has been demanding that he be extradited for years. Don’t expect Washington to move now.
Arms deal issue
The situation was similarly deadlocked for a long time when it came to arms deals. In 2019, Turkey flew out of a joint development program in the US for the new F35 fighter jet. It was Washington’s reaction to having previously bought a Russian missile defense system.
Finally, a few months ago, Turkey switched to the US F16 fighter jet — with chances of getting it, says Turkish international relations expert Soli Özel. The NATO dispute over Sweden and Finland could jeopardize that, he warns:
This comes at a time when the Biden administration appears to agree that the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey is in line with its interests.
For his colleague Özülker, that is exactly what is impossible:
For that, the US leadership would have to engage in a real fight with Congress. But President Biden doesn’t have the strength to push Congress through whatever he wants.
Cavusoglu indicates willingness to negotiate
So Erdogan cannot be sure of the arms delivery. For Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, he therefore plans a dispute with NATO and makes demands. The Turkish President would have prepared the way for his Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to meet his US counterpart Antony Blinken. Cavusoglu had already hinted at the weekend that Turkey’s “yes” to Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO membership is a matter for negotiation.
In the end, however, there is also one issue on which Washington and Ankara are pretty much in agreement: there must be a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine as soon as possible, the situation for the people of Ukraine must improve and the war must stop. His US colleague Joe Biden had already praised the fact that Erdogan was trying to mediate in March.