"Reference News Network" quoted Reuters as reporting that after a delay of up to 20 months, the Turkish parliament finally approved Sweden's accession to NATO on January 23, local time, and Slovak Prime Minister Fiko also urged his parliament to approve Sweden's accession to NATO, if everything goes well, it means that after Finland joined in April last year, NATO is about to usher in the 32nd full member. (Geopolitical masters applaud in celebration)
Public reports show that Sweden has made few concessions on the most critical Kurdish issue, despite concessions such as the lifting of the ban on arms exports to Turkey and the granting of some political demands. Turkey's cessation of blocking Sweden's accession to NATO, in addition to the pressure it has from within NATO, is likely to be related to a series of dilemmas facing Turkey itself, especially seeing how the EU treats Hungary.
According to a report by Russia's Sputnik news agency, the Turkish parliament allowed Sweden to join NATO, perhaps in the hope that the move would help the United States sell new F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. According to public reports, less than 24 hours after the Turkish parliament agreed to Sweden's accession to NATO, U.S. President Joe Biden sent a letter to the chairman and chief members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Relations Committee, asking the latter to approve the sale of new F-16 fighter jets and upgrade kits to Turkey, which is worth $20 billion.
There is no official confirmation of whether there is a relationship between the Turkish parliament's approval of Sweden's accession to NATO and Biden's urging Congress to agree to the sale of new F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. However, it is certain that since the purchase of Russian-made S-400 air defense systems, the Turkish Air Force has fallen into a state of technological stagnation, and even problems have arisen with the purchase of relevant spare parts from the United States, and the purchased S-400 air defense systems have been randomly mothballed after a short test.
In contrast, the Turkish Air Force's main rival, the Greek Air Force, is accelerating its technological upgrades, with Rafale fighters purchased from France already in service and F-35 fighters ordered. The Turkish Air Force also has F-35 fighters, but they are mothballed in the United States: after confirming the purchase of the S-400 air defense system, the U.S. government immediately froze the relevant transactions, not only sealed the F-35 fighters used for training missions in the United States, the follow-up orders were frozen, and the relevant personnel of the Turkish Air Force trained in the United States were sent home, but also kicked Turkey out of the F-35 fighter production plan, plus the purchased S-400 air defense system was mothballed, from a military point of view alone, the Turkish Air Force is a big loss。
However, analysts believe that the Turkish parliament's approval of Sweden's accession to NATO, in addition to trying to get the US Congress to agree to sell new F-16 fighters and upgrade kits, is more important because of economic and political considerations:
Since Erdogan became president, Turkey's economy has not been optimistic, the inflation rate ranks among the top few in the world, if the United States continues to support Western allies, the consequences are simply unimaginable; and politically, Turkey has almost all NATO allies who are not harmonious, let alone want to become a member of the European Union, and after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, as Russia is deeply involved in the battlefield in Ukraine, Turkey's interests in the Middle East almost no longer need Russian concessions, and it is completely possible to reach out on its own, and continue to be nervous with the West because of its close relations with Russia, which is completely worth the loss。
Sweden and Finland's accession to NATO is beneficial to Turkey, and it can also take advantage of it along the way, and the fact that Sweden has not been approved to join NATO will only allow other NATO allies to deepen the impression that Turkey is inconsistent in terms of values and other aspects. "There are no eternal friends, only eternal interests, in order to maintain eternal friendship, we must safeguard the interests of friends", hehe, many people don't know the full version of this sentence.