Erdogan says Turkey will keep promise on Sweden's NATO bid if US approves F-
Sep 26, 2023
By Ezgi Akin
@ezgi_akin
Source: https://www.al-
ANKARA — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that Turkey will keep
its promise to ratify Sweden’s NATO accession if Washington keeps its pledges to
Ankara, including on the sale of the F-
Speaking on his way back from Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan bordering Turkey, Erdogan recalled that his Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his American counterpart Antony Blinken discussed Sweden's NATO accession during their meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly summit last Friday in New York.
“My hope is that if they stay true to their word, our parliament will also stay true to its word and will act accordingly,” Erdogan told journalists onboard without elaborating, according to the Turkish presidency’s Communication Directorate.
Asked whether he was referring to the pending Turkish bid to buy new F-
Turkey had requested in October 2021 to buy $20 billion worth of F-
Turkey and Hungary are the sole holdouts that haven’t ratified Sweden’s NATO accession after the Nordic nation formally applied to join the transatlantic alliance last year.
Under a trilateral statement with Turkey, Sweden and NATO on the sidelines of the alliance’s Vilnius summit in July, Erdogan greenlit his country’s ratification, but postponed it to October, when the Turkish Parliament returns from a summer recess.
Earlier this month, he also added further uncertainty to the issue, saying it was for the Turkish Parliament to decide whether to greenlight Sweden’s application and not for himself to decide. Erdogan’s ruling coalition has a parliamentary majority. The president said he would also have further discussions with his coalition partners on the issue.
“We cannot bypass our parliament. … Our parliament follows every development about this issue in detail. It is at the discretion of our parliament when it will make that decision and what the decision will be,” he said.
Erdogan also took a swipe at the former head of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-
Recalling the senator's opposition to the sale of the new jet fighters to Turkey,
Erdogan said, “Menendez's exclusion would give us an advantage, but the F-