Turkey, Finland, Sweden, & Ankara have positioned themselves as strong allies of their Western allies against Russia’s aggression. The deal between Turkey & Sweden that would open the door to NATO membership for the Nordic countries was presented by Sweden, Finland & Turkey
Recently, there has been heated conversation about Turkey’s removal of its membership from the West in current decades. This was due to Ankara’s 2003 purchase of Russian arms and its refusal of joining sanctions on Russia in support of its war against Ukraine.
Many saw the Turkish declaration in May that Turkey would discard Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO applications as yet another indication that Ankara is a partner that is regularly charting its own course within NATO.
“The agreement marks a significant and historic milestone in Turkey’s relations & cooperation with Sweden, Finland, and NATO,” Ali Bakeer (assistant professor at the University of Qatar) said.
“It demonstrates Turkey’s promise support the unity, and expansion of NATO. It’s a win/win situation and NATO emerges strong as a collective safety organization vis-a-vis rising threats and Russia.”
Ankara joined NATO on the 2nd wave of alliance enlargement in 1952. Ankara was already a member of the United Nations and had sent troops two years before to fight in Korea War II under the United Nations banner. Norway and Turkey, the only NATO member states with land bordering the Soviet Union were at that point.
Turkey has NATO’s 2nd largest military, behind the United States. It is a vital member of the southern flank.
Turkish persuasion
Ankara has been a vital part of avoiding an alliance crisis at a critical time when Europe is under its utmost serious threat since the Cold War.
“The most important win in this deal,” said Galip delay, associate fellow of Chatham House’s the Middle East and North Africa Programme.
If there wasn’t a deal made after this summit, which was perhaps the most important summit of decades, then that would have triggered the crisis. NATO’s main victory is that this crisis was avoided.
Analysts believe that Turkey has enhanced its standing in NATO and is now trying to persuade allies to change their views about terrorism.
With the Nordic deal, the West has now acknowledged Ankara’s concerns about the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is the group that was instrumental in fighting ISIL/ISIS (US-led coalition in Syria). Turkey is likely to force other countries, that have basically maintained that YPG & PKK are separate entities, into a similar position. Turkey has said that it will repeat its 2019 invasion into YPG-controlled northern Syria. This operation was widely judged by the West and Ankara was limited from selling defense products.
Unluhisarcikli declared that Turkey will assume Europe and America to ignore the incursion beyond mere lip service. Daly explained to us that Russia’s conflict in Ukraine would bring about further convergence between Turkey, NATO, and its allies. Turkey is the NATO member with the most direct competition in Syria and Libya. This presents unique security risks for Ankara.
Daly said that Turkey has been driven closer to the West by Russian revisionism. “That was also the case for the Ottoman Empire. This was the case when Turkey applied to NATO, and it’s still the case today.
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