LMT - Turkey sets sights on F-16s after backing Sweden's NATO bid
2023-07-11 05:24:01 ET
Sweden is one step closer to joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as Turkey agreed to back its bid to become a part of the alliance. This follows Sweden agreeing to bolster its anti-terrorism efforts and support Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
"Sweden amended its constitution, changed its laws, significantly expanded its counter-terrorism cooperation against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), and resumed arms exports to Turkey," NATO's statement read .
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan committed to forward Sweden's accession protocol to Parliament "as soon as possible" for ratification, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. Hungary, who also held out against backing Sweden's NATO bid, is expected to follow suit.
Sweden also agreed to actively support Turkey's efforts to join the EU. Negotiations for Turkey's EU accession came to a standstill in 2018 due to concerns over rule of law and human rights abuses, as well as disputes with EU-member Cyprus.
As Turkey has backed Sweden's NATO bid, the U.S. will transfer F-16 fighter jets produced by Lockheed Martin ( LMT ) to Turkey. U.S. President Joe Biden "has placed no caveats or conditions on (the transfer)...? he intends to move forward in consultation with Congress," said national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Biden is on a five-day trip to Europe and is meeting other NATO leaders in Lithuania for a two-day summit starting Tuesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend the summit on Wednesday.
NATO's Stoltenberg reiterated that Ukraine will eventually become a member of the alliance. "Ukraine is much closer to NATO so I think the time has come to reflect that in other NATO decisions."
More NATO updates
- NATO to expand as Finland gets last approval to join alliance
- Sweden's NATO bid still stalled despite support from Biden
- U.S. govt notifies Congress of $259M F-16 gear sale to Turkey
- Defense, weapon stocks in focus as Biden heads to NATO summit
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Turkey sets sights on F-16s after backing Sweden's NATO bid