Beatriz Pascual Macias |
Vilnius (EFE).- The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has emerged in recent hours as a pragmatic leader, capable of extracting concessions from the United States, Sweden and NATO in exchange for unlocking the accession of the Nordic country to the Alliance Atlantic.
Erdogan’s turn comes after months of intense negotiations in which the visible face has been the secretary general of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, but in which the United States has played a central role, the national security adviser said on Tuesday. of the White House, Jake Sullivan.
“Although this agreement has been the product of direct talks between Norway, Turkey and NATO, the truth is that the United States has played a very significant role,” Sullivan said at a press conference in Vilnius, where the NATO summit begins today. NATO.
These are the keys that explain why Erdogan has changed his mind:
American F-16 fighters
Erdogan had officially said that his veto on Sweden was due to the lax stance that, in his opinion, the Nordic country had with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a guerrilla group that is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, Sweden, the European Union and the United States.
However, the Biden administration knew it had a way in mind to change Erdogan’s mind: the sale of the sophisticated US-made F-16 fighter jets that Turkey needs to revamp its air force and that the US Congress has been blocking
As Sullivan explained, Biden made an effort in recent days to send Erdogan a “clear and unequivocal” message that he supported the sale of the F-16s to Turkey and had the intention of negotiating with the US Congress for the transaction to go through. forward.
Biden and Erdogan spoke on the phone for almost an hour on Sunday and this afternoon they plan to meet on the fringes of NATO.
In any case, the White House still does not officially link the sale of the F-16s to the integration of Sweden into the Alliance.
However, on Monday night when news broke that Ankara had lifted its ban on Sweden, Biden released a statement saying he was “ready” to work alongside Erdogan on improving “defense and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic zone”.
Biden did not specify what he was referring to, but a senior US official told EFE on Tuesday that this phrase wanted to serve as a “wink” to Turkey to demonstrate the US president’s commitment to the sale of the F-16s.
Two loose pieces: the US Congress and Greece
However, before it could sell the F-16s to Turkey, the United States had to resolve two issues first: resistance from US lawmakers, some from Biden’s own party, and Greece’s concern about Ankara using the F-16s. 16 against him.
To resolve these obstacles, the Biden Administration has entered into talks with lawmakers who opposed the sale of the F-16s, including the powerful Chairman of the Senate Foreign Committee, Democrat Bob Menéndez, who is concerned about the Turkey’s human rights record.
It is not yet known whether lawmakers, mostly representing areas with large numbers of Greek Americans or Armenian Americans, will back Turkey’s sale of F-16s; but Sullivan assured this Tuesday that there is “good will” and “good energy” in Congress to achieve it.
Another key player in reaching the agreement was Greece, which has been fighting with Turkey for decades over the delimitation of maritime zones in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean.
Asked by EFE, Sullivan explained that Biden addressed the concerns that Greece has about its security in a phone call that he had on July 2 with the recently re-elected Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, but did not specify if the F-16s were part of that conversation.
NATO and Swedish concessions
Lastly, Erdogan has wrung several concessions in the fight against terrorism from both NATO and Sweden.
As part of the agreement to allow Sweden to join, Stoltenberg pledged last night to create a new position of special coordinator for the fight against terrorism within the Alliance.
Ankara had been asking for the creation of that position for years, so Stoltenberg’s concession represents a triumph for Erdogan, analyst Rachel Rizzo from the European headquarters of the Atlantic Council think tank explained to EFE.
In Rizzo’s opinion, Stoltenberg’s ability to get countries to come together has been crucial for Erdogan to lift his veto on Sweden.
For its part, Sweden in the last year has reformed its legislation against terrorism and has criminalized the mere membership or financial or other type of support to a terrorist organization.