Ankara: Ankara expects the Turkish parliament to adopt the protocol on the ratification of Finland’s NATO bid, as the country has no problems in its relations with Helsinki, Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Saturday.
On Thursday, the Turkish parliamentary commission on foreign policy issues approved the protocol on the ratification of Finland’s NATO bid and announced its plans to send it for further approval to the parliament itself.
“Our commission on foreign policy issues has adopted the protocol. We expect that the Grand National Assembly [the Turkish parliament] will also approve it. We have no problems with Finland in this process,” Kalin told Turkish broadcaster NTV.
At the same time, Erdogan’s representative specified that Turkey had not made a final decision on Sweden’s NATO bid and said that everything depended on Stockholm’s actions.
“We have not closed NATO’s doors to Sweden. The process and the speed of the process are completely dependent on the steps Stockholm will take,” Kalin added.
He warned that Washington should not attempt to tie Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO membership bids to the purchase of F-16 jets. Kalin said that Ankara has alternatives to the F-16, in case the deal is not concluded.
Earlier in March, a bipartisan group of senators urged US President Joe Biden to delay a $20 billion sale of F-16 jets until Turkey ratified the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO. The State Department said in February that it supported the deal but that Congress had to also be on board.
