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| Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan holds a news conference during the NATO summit at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium June 14, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman/Pool |
International Military - The dispute between Russia and Ukraine invites many polemics, one of which comes from these two countries. In the midst of a protracted conflict, two European countries, namely Finland and Sweden, intend to join the Western alliance (NATO).
The underlying reason for these two countries is their fear of escalating tensions in the Eastern European region. "Regional security is very important to protect, especially neighboring countries Russia and Ukraine."
Quoted by the EurAsian Times, Finnish PM Sanna Marin said his country was ready to join NATO, especially when it came to national security. The Finnish president also stressed that his country has the option to become a member of NATO at any time.
Prime Minister Marin, added that every country has the right to decide its own security policy. Then, following Sweden's decision to take a similar step, the two countries have agreed to apply for NATO membership simultaneously. Of course, the decisions of these two countries provoked the anger of Russia, President Putin saw a threat if the two countries joined NATO.
Basically, Putin assumed that Finland and Sweden would upgrade their military infrastructure alongside NATO countries, and that's exactly what happened in Ukraine. And the refusal did not come from Russia alone, one of the NATO members, namely Turkey, also refused the participation of these two countries.
Turkey accuses Finland and Sweden of harboring Kurdish militants, a terrorist organization in their countries. In addition, Turkey also objected to the two countries' decision to ban arms exports in 2019.
Also quoted from The Guardian, in 2019 it was discovered that Turkish military operations were deployed in Syria. And Turkey's attitude poses a problem for both Sweden and Finland, considering that all NATO members (30 countries) must agree to the membership of a new country.
However, it seems that Turkey is melting and asking for some conditions. What is Turkey asking for?
reported from Top War.com, said that Turkey would accept membership of both countries if sanctions related to the acquisition of the S-400 were lifted. The aftermath of the issue of ownership of an anti-air defense system from Russia is Turkey's expulsion from the F-35 fighter jet procurement program.
Other NATO countries, such as Canada, Britain and Germany, should also lift a ban on the supply of spare parts for Turkish defense products. Citing Bloomberg, the account freeze of one of the Turkish Defense Industry Directorates must also be completed.
As a reminder, all of these sanctions occur because of the CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) rules. A product of US law in which they prohibit countries from cooperating in the military field with Russia, China, North Korea and Iraq.