Turkey’s F-16s in doubt after Erdogan says no Sweden vote before October

Source:al Monitor Date:15Jul2023

“The parliament is not in session for the next two months,” Erdogan told reporters in Vilnius on Wednesday. “But our target is to finalize this matter as swiftly as possible.”

Analysts say much could cause Erdogan to backtrack between now and then, such as another Quran-burning demonstration or pro-Kurdish protest in Sweden.

“We’re not as close as we thought whenever Erdogan initially made the statement that he will greenlight this,” said Alper Coskun, a former deputy permanent representative for Turkey’s NATO mission.

“While Erdogan has greenlit this, what he greenlit is sending it to parliament,” said Coskun. “He will be signaling to the US that unless there’s progress on the F-16s, it might be more difficult for parliament” to approve Swedish membership in the alliance.

and more significantly

The New Jersey Democrat went on to say he’s looking for assurances from the administration that it would beef up Greece’s security to give it a “qualitative advantage” in the region.

Providing American-made F-35s to Turkey’s longtime adversary Greece could seal the deal for Menendez. Athens has requested to buy advanced stealth fighter jets from Washington, but the Biden administration hasn’t yet formally notified Congress of its approval.

A House foreign policy aide told Al-Monitor that House Democrats viewed Turkey dropping its objections to Sweden joining NATO as “a significant step forward.” But they “still have concerns about violations of Greek sovereignty, Turkish lack of enforcement of Russian sanctions and continued aggression against Kurdish partners.”