by Burak Akinci
ANKARA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish parliament on Tuesday ratified Sweden's accession to NATO, in a move that Ankara hopes will resolve a prolonged dispute with the United States over the delivery of F-16 fighter jets, experts said.
Following a debate at the general assembly of the parliament, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party commands a majority of seats together with its nationalist ally, Sweden's bid to join the Western military alliance was approved by lawmakers.
The vote ended 20 months of delay that strained Ankara's ties with Western allies, especially the United States.
Erdogan is expected to sign the bill into law to finalize the process, making the Turkish contribution to NATO's Nordic enlargement following the accession of Finland to the alliance in April 2023.
The two Scandinavian nations applied for NATO membership in the wake of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine in early 2022.
Ankara previously refused to approve Sweden's NATO bid, asserting that the country has been lenient toward the Kurdish groups, which are seen as a security threat by Türkiye.
Stockholm has since introduced legal measures against recognized terrorist organizations, prompting the foreign affairs committee of the Turkish parliament to greenlight its NATO bid in December last year.
In the meantime, Erdogan made new demands over the Sweden NATO bid, including requesting Washington to deliver a batch of 40 new F-16 fighters and upgrade packages for aircraft in the Turkish Air Force.
Despite being favored by U.S. President Joe Biden, the multi-billion-dollar transaction faces opposition in the U.S. Congress over Türkiye's cooperation with Russia, regional policy differences, and the Turkish leader's recent vehement criticism of Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip.
"It seems that Türkiye has received clear and sincere signals from Washington that it will push this sale through the U.S. Congress," Batu Coskun, an Ankara-based foreign policy analyst and a research fellow at Libya's Sadeq Institute, told Xinhua.
He said U.S. officials have stressed that Türkiye's request could win the required congressional approval if Sweden's NATO accession goes through.
"The U.S. Congress is an entity of its own, and nothing can be certain, but this sale seems now more achievable than before," Coskun added.
In his view, it is not in Washington's best interest to see Türkiye's air power weakened by a failure to procure modern aircraft from its ally.
However, some experts think that Türkiye's strategy to approve Sweden's bid in exchange for arms sales may prove unsuccessful.
"We may be left without the F-16 fighters at the end of the game. Even if the U.S. administration is in favor, the U.S. Congress may reject a weapons sale," Volkan Ozdemir, the head of ATASAM, an independent think tank based in Ankara, told Xinhua.
The analyst argued that an existing "mistrust" between Washington and Ankara could hamper the delivery of the F-16 fighter jets.
In this scenario, there are serious political risks for Erdogan who expressed hope for a "simultaneous" approval in both Ankara and Washington, Murat Yetkin, an influential political analyst from Ankara, wrote on his website.
The concern of Ankara is that Biden might eventually say to Erdogan, "We tried, but it didn't work," after the Turkish ratification of Sweden's NATO bid, he said.
"Whether the U.S. will keep its word or not will be a test for NATO's credibility," Yetkin added.
Coskun said the U.S. refusal to deliver F-16 fighters to Ankara would lead to a rise in the already existing anti-American and anti-NATO sentiments amongst Turks.
Ahead of Tuesday's vote, some pundits called on the Turkish government to reject a NATO expansion, claiming that it will only serve American interests.
"This is a historic vote. The U.S. wants Sweden's NATO membership, which will not contribute to world peace. On the contrary, the region will turn into a weapons depot in line with U.S. interests," Naim Baburoglu, a former army general and foreign policy analyst, wrote on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Türkiye should say 'No' to the U.S., who is refusing to deliver F-16 fighters to its Turkish ally," he stressed.
After Türkiye's approval, Hungary remains the sole NATO member that has yet to approve Sweden's bid. ■
