Turkey, Sweden, and the F-16s: Cutting through the noisy diplomacy
It’s now been a couple of weeks since the NATO summit in Vilnius, where Turkey’s Erdogan was praised by other leaders - including President Biden - for lifting his objections to Sweden’s NATO membership bid. Once again, F-16 sales to Turkey were a top-of-the-agenda item ahead of Vilnius. Since the summit, while there have been countless headlines declaring “deals” and discussing details of alleged deals, Sweden is still not a member of NATO and the administration has not secured the clearance of congressional holds for an F-16 sale to Turkey. Endy Zemenides, the Executive Director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council, joins Thanos Davelis to review what we know post-Vilnius, and cut through all the noisy diplomacy.
Read Endy Zemenides’ latest piece in Kathimerini: Cutting through noisy diplomacy
You can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here:
US Senator Menendez says he has not changed opposition to Turkey F-16 sale
US Senator calls for assurances for Greece, Cyprus in any upgrade of Turkish F-16s
Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders in joint appeal for information on missing