ANKARA (AP) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday called for Sweden and Finland to be accepted into NATO “as quickly as possible,” although his Turkish counterpart dismissed the possibility of any link between their accession and Turkey’s request for F-16 fighter jets.
Turkey has delayed the Nordic countries admission to the trans-Atlantic military alliance, citing concerns over terrorism. Meanwhile, members of the U.S. Congress have tied approval of the F-16 deal to Ankara retracting its opposition to the NATO enlargement.
“We’re confident that NATO will formally welcome them in soon,” Blinken told a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara. “And when that happens, it will enhance the security of every NATO member, including the United States, including Turkey.”
Cavusoglu repeated Turkey’s position that it would be willing to approve Finland joining NATO before Sweden. Turkey has complained about what it sees as Stockholm’s tolerance of support for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a 39-year insurgency against Ankara.
“Unfortunately PKK supporters are still present in Sweden,” he said. “They are recruiting people and they are financing terror acts and they are carrying out terror propaganda in Sweden … because they don’t want Sweden to become a NATO member.”
While acknowledging that Sweden had made constitutional changes in a bid to satisfy Turkey’s demands, he said that more needed to be done to “convince our parliament and people.”
Ankara has also been angered by Sweden allowing protests against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and not preventing an anti-Islam activist from burning the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book, in a separate, solitary protest.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Monday he remained “convinced that (Sweden and Finland) will join together.” He added: “Ultimately, it is a Turkish decision to decide on ratification, that has not changed.”
In Ankara, Cavusoglu made clear his country objects to the sale of F-16 jets being tied to ratifying the NATO membership of Sweden and Finland which must be agreed by all 30 members of the alliance. Only the parliaments of Turkey and Hungary have yet to give consent.
“It would not be right or fair to make two independent issues — the two countries’ NATO membership and the purchase of F-16s — conditional on each other,” Cavusoglu said.
“It would not be possible for us to purchase the F-16s under these conditions.”
Ankara has been seeking to upgrade its F-16 fleet after it was kicked off the project to develop the next-generation F-35 fighter following its acquisition of Russian air defense missiles.
Underlining the U.S. administration’s support for the F-16 deal, Blinken said it was “very important for ongoing NATO interoperability and in the national interest of the United States.”