I’ve been watching this news and the way it’s been presented and the one thought that ran through my mind repeatedly was…. “This deal is not being presented accurately”
Following realpolitik for more years than I care to admit.. Since March 2008. Which means after just over 14 years there are some things you know right off are not being accurately portrayed. And this NATO agreement was another one of those inaccurately portrayed instances. Too much weasel wording.
Why would Turkey make a deal to allow Finland and Sweden into NATO knowing full well neither nation, like the US, will keep their word. Stick to agreements. Or adhere to any deals, made. Turkish leadership understands the duplicitous nature of the aforementioned nations. Turkish leadership concerns itself with Turkey.
Unlike, say, Justin Trudeau? Who is definitely not a Canada first sort of leader!
Leading the news: Turkey allows ‘invitation’ to Sweden and Finland for NATO
Leading the news: Turkey allows ‘invitation’ to Sweden and Finland for NATO
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed not to veto NATO’s invitation to Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, breaking a months-long impasse. The intervention of US President Joe Biden, who spoke with Erdogan by phone on Tuesday morning, helped smooth the agreement, as Nazlan Ertan reports. NATO leaders have been pressing Erdogan to allow the bids by the two countries, who applied for membership in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But the “trilateral agreement” reached by Turkey, Finland and Sweden at the NATO summit in Madrid this week does not make membership a done deal.
The Trilateral Memorandum:
Signed by the foreign ministers of Turkey, Sweden and Finland on June 28, the agreement is less an endorsement of membership than a checklist of Turkish expectations.
First, the memorandum concludes with Turkey agreeing to the "invitation" of the two countries to join NATO. That’s it.
Second, it established a "joint mechanism" for implementation of agreed-upon "concrete steps," or Turkish conditions, for Swedish and Finnish membership.They will require the two Nordic countries to:
- Address deportation and extradition requests of “terror suspects” — meaning those affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), People Protection Units (YPG), Democratic Union Party (PYD), and Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO).
- Investigate and interdict all financing and recruitment by these groups.
- Fight “disinformation” regarding these groups.
- Enforce and apply new provisions in Finland’s Criminal Code and Sweden’s Terrorist Offenses Act to these groups.
- Adjust their laws to allow arms sales and exports to Turkey.
“Turkey got what it wanted,” Erdogan’s office said in a statement following the announcement, as Andrew Wilks reports.
Turkey could slow fast-track accession:
Following NATO’s invitation to Sweden and Finland, the next step is for each of the 30 NATO member states to ratify the protocols one by one,according to their own systems — usually via approval in their parliaments (or Congress in the US). Once approved, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg formally will invite Sweden and Finland to accede, which they do according to their own internal processes, and then US Department of State is notified to complete the process.
NATO will want to fast-track the process, but Turkey’s approval will ultimately depend upon its assessment of the "concrete steps" taken by Sweden and Finland.