The Turkish Presidency said that Erdogan and Biden had a phone conversation on Sunday, during which they specifically discussed Sweden’s accession to NATO and the delivery of F-16 fighter jets that Turkey hopes to obtain from the United States. They also agreed to meet on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
The Turkish Presidency announced on Sunday that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet his American counterpart, Joe Biden, on the sidelines of the NATO summit hosted by Lithuania next week.
The Presidency indicated that the talks would focus on “the situation of Ukraine in NATO, Sweden’s membership, and the delivery of F-16 fighter jets that Turkey hopes to obtain from the United States,” without mentioning the meeting date.
Erdogan is scheduled to meet with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven on Monday, the eve of the summit hosted by Vilnius on Tuesday and Wednesday. Löfven hopes to convince Erdogan to abandon his objection and give the green light for Sweden’s accession to the alliance.
The Presidency explained that Erdogan and Biden had a phone conversation on Sunday, during which they specifically discussed Sweden’s accession to NATO and the delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.
The statement continued, “President Erdogan thanked President Biden for his support of Turkey’s request to acquire F-16 fighter jets, emphasizing that it is not correct to link Turkey’s order of F-16s to Sweden’s accession.” Biden had previously linked the two issues in a phone call with Erdogan following his victory in the presidential election on May 28.
On Sunday, Erdogan reiterated his position, especially his demand for Sweden to take a stricter stance towards suspected Kurdish refugees.
The Turkish Presidency’s statement quoted Erdogan as saying to Biden that “Sweden has taken some steps in the right direction by amending its counter-terrorism laws.” However, Erdogan stressed that Sweden’s decision to allow pro-Kurdish groups to organize demonstrations on its territory “nullifies” those steps.
