Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO after the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, but Ankara put forward some conditions before backing their accession.
SCANDAL REQUEST: DELAY MEMBERSHIP UNTIL APPROVED
In their letter to 29 Democrat and Republican senators, Biden wrote that the two Scandinavian countries are making “full and well-intentioned efforts” to meet Ankara’s requirements. “Congress may consider the sale of F-16 fighter jets once the NATO accession protocols are approved by Turkey,” the senators said.
According to the BBC Turkish report, with this letter, Congress for the first time directly and explicitly linked the sale of F-16s to Turkey with the participation of two Scandinavian countries in NATO.
The Biden administration has repeatedly said it supports the sale and refused to link the two issues, but made no secret that Ankara’s approval of Sweden and Finland’s memberships in NATO would put Congress at ease.
The Turkish government said it could support Finland’s membership, but oppose Sweden’s membership, following the Qur’an burning in Sweden’s capital, Stockholm.
The Prime Ministers of Finland and Sweden, Sanna Marin and Ulf Kristersson, announced that they are determined to carry out the NATO membership process together, despite Turkey’s recent objection to Sweden and the green light for Finland.
Ankara considers the extradition of people it describes as “members of a terrorist organization” to Turkey as an important condition for accepting Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership applications.
TURKEY AND HUNGARY MEMBERSHIP NOT APPROVED YET
Of the 30 members of NATO, only Turkey and Hungary have not yet ratified the membership of these two countries.