Status: 02/20/2023 2:07 p.m
US Secretary of State Blinken campaigned in Ankara for Sweden and Finland to join NATO quickly. Both countries have already approached Turkey on the matter, he said in a conversation with his Turkish counterpart Cavusoglu.
During a visit to Turkey, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for Sweden and Finland to join NATO soon. The US supported admission “as soon as possible,” he said at a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. The two northern European countries have already taken concrete steps towards Turkey on the matter.
Sweden and Finland had applied for NATO membership in May 2022 after decades of neutrality under the impression of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. However, all members of the military alliance would have to agree to this. Turkey has so far blocked the recording. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – who Blinken also met during his visit to Turkey – justified the blockade primarily with alleged Swedish support for Kurdish activists from Turkey.
Turkey demands approval for fighter jet delivery
At his meeting with Blinken, Cavusoglu appealed to the US Congress to approve the delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. This agreement has nothing to do with NATO’s northern expansion, he said. At the beginning of February, a group of US senators objected to an arms deal with Turkey as long as the country blocked Sweden and Finland from joining. Blinken now said that the US government supports the upgrading of existing F-16 fighter jets and the provision of new jets, also in its own interest.