Green light for Finland, Sweden to join NATO, Turkey finally betrayed Putin?

The outbreak of the Ukrainian war has awakened the deep security fears of European countries towards Russia for hundreds of years since Tsarist Russia. Finland and Sweden, which have been neutral for a long time since World War II, therefore changed their positions and applied to join NATO.

Because of the majority of public opinion in Finland and Sweden, Russia has fallen into a war trap and has no time to care. At the same time, NATO has long been willing to expand eastward. It is imperative for these two countries to become NATO members. The only factor that constitutes resistance is Turkey.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long said harshly, "As long as Tayyip Erdogan is still the head of state of the Republic of Turkey, we must not say 'yes' to countries that support terrorism joining NATO. ”

There are two main reasons why Turkey cares so much about Finland and Sweden's "joining the treaty". One is that these two countries support the PKK and its branches, including the "Gulen Movement" (religious leader) that Turkey believes has launched an attempted coup d'etat. Gulen was identified as being related to Turkey’s attempted military coup against Erdogan in 2016); one was by linking Finland and Sweden’s accession to more strategic issues between Turkey and the US and Europe, such as requiring the US and Europe to lift their ties to Turkey the arms embargo, the reintegration of Turkey into the F-35 advanced aircraft program, the purchase of American F-16 fighter jets and the purchase of upgrade kits for its existing fighter jets.

To sum up, it is to take advantage of the veto power of being a member of NATO to slap European and American countries, especially the United States, Finland, Sweden and other countries, as much as they can.

Putin of Russia is very clear about this, but no matter what, whether it can be done or not, as long as Erdogan jumps out to make trouble, it is worthy of encouragement, so Russia has always appreciated Turkey's approach.

Of course, Europe and the United States are more aware of Erdogan's intentions, and they know that Turkey will make concessions sooner or later. The question is how much chips they are willing to pay to meet Turkey's requirements.

However, with the development of the Ukrainian war, Europe and the United States could not hold back their anxiety. They have long set a psychological time limit for this, that is, the NATO summit to be held at the end of this month, hoping to reach a similar consensus on this.

Although Europe and the United States did not reveal much about this, they realized that if the deadlock could not be resolved, Turkey would maintain its veto power, which would undoubtedly be a major setback for the NATO alliance in the context of the current Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Erdogan is of course aware of NATO's mind, so until a few hours before the NATO summit, Turkish President Erdogan said in Madrid, "What Turkey needs is results, not empty words!"

But in fact, Erdogan has long been ready to receive and compromise at this summit.

Erdogan, who came prepared, has not been idle all day in Madrid, and almost all of his itineraries are arranged around this matter.

As soon as Erdogan arrived in Madrid on Tuesday, he opened "final negotiations" with the prime ministers of Finland and Sweden, as well as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who acts as a "facilitator".

According to media reports, the meeting continued until 17:00 International Standard Time, and continued negotiations after a half-hour break.

In addition, Erdogan's schedule also includes plans for talks with leaders of Finland and Sweden, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Biden, and the content of the talks also revolves around this issue.

Before meeting with the Finnish and Swedish prime ministers, Erdogan also stated that if Sweden and Finland want to become NATO members, they must consider Turkey's concerns, "Turkey has been in the alliance for 70 years, and we hope to witness our unity".

As a result, after negotiations with Erdogan on Tuesday evening local time, NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg said: "I am very fortunate to announce that we have now reached an agreement for Finland and Sweden to join NATO."

"Turkey signed a memorandum with Finland and Sweden in response to Turkey's concerns, especially with regard to arms exports and the fight against terrorism".

The Turkish presidency also issued an announcement in the evening saying that "President Erdogan has obtained full cooperation between Finland and Sweden in the fight against the PKK," giving the green light for Finland and Sweden to join NATO.

So far, Turkey's obstacles to Finland and Sweden's "joining the treaty" have been officially removed. Erdogan, who has been fascinated by Putin since the coup in Turkey, seems to have "betrayed" Putin in the end.

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