Turkish Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu commented on the participation of Sweden and Finland in NATO

ANKARA, January 18 – RIA Novosti. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that Sweden and Finland’s NATO accession process should proceed separately from the agreement between Ankara and Washington on F-16 warplanes.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said earlier that an agreement between the United States and Turkey on the supply of F-16s could contribute to Finland’s NATO accession process.

“There were some hints that the positive course of the process would set a positive backdrop for discussions with F-16s in Congress. But we declare at various levels that these are separate processes. The other side,” Çavuşoğlu said at a briefing in Washington on Wednesday.

The United States had previously removed Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program because it had purchased S-400 air defense systems from Russia. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan later announced America’s offer to buy other fighters, but not the fifth, but the fourth generation – the F-16. The deal will need to be negotiated in Congress, where it has strong rivals.

On May 18, 2022, Finland and Sweden, against the background of events in Ukraine, applied to the NATO Secretary General to join the alliance. Erdogan said Ankara could not say yes to Finland and Sweden’s membership in the alliance because it could not believe its assurances regarding relations with representatives of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which is banned in Turkey. Later, after the results of the negotiations with the Turkish side, the representatives of Sweden and Finland stated that the countries would cooperate with Ankara in the fight against terrorism and promised not to support the PKK. Turkey withdrew their objections to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. Later, however, Erdogan said that he would not consider the approval of Sweden and Finland’s applications for NATO membership in parliament if Turkey did not fulfill its obligations.