The vote was described as “decisive” for the future of Sweden by the main Turkish media. He was greeted in Stockholm with perceptible relief, but no more. In Western capitals, it only aroused polite applause, as the differences or, more precisely, the gap which separates Ankara from the other members of NATO has continued to widen throughout these interminable negotiations.
It took four hours on Tuesday January 23 for the deputies of the Turkish presidential majority to adopt, with 287 votes to 55, the protocol for Sweden’s accession to the Atlantic Alliance, pending since May 2022.
The text must now be signed by the head of state, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A formality in theory, which he should complete in the coming days. From this date, only Hungary will remain, out of the thirty-one members of the Alliance, to have not given the green light to the Scandinavian state. Tuesday morning, when the vote of the Turkish parliament seemed to be confirmed, the Hungarian Prime Minister, Victor Orban, invited his Swedish counterpart, Ulf Kristersson, to come to Budapest, to ” negotiate “. But visibly scalded by the Turkish experience, the Swedes were content to respond that they “would study the question”.
Beyond arithmetic and the calendar, these twenty months of blockage have given a glimpse of the deep fault line which divides the Atlantic community and particularly pits Turkey against its allies. How many times have the Ankara strongman and his entourage talked about ending the crisis before formulating new demands? How many times have the Turkish authorities seemed on the verge of committing before changing their mind? Enough to arouse incomprehension, and also cold anger, from most Western diplomats towards the Turkish presidency.
Twenty long months of procrastination, tensions, discussions and slamming doors were necessary to reach the conclusion of an agreement that was ultimately hardly advantageous for Turkey: in exchange for the vote of its Parliament, Ankara obtained a vague promise of Sweden’s support for its accession, more than compromised, to the European Union and the assurance of American President Joe Biden to work in the United States Congress so that it accepts, which is far from being acquired, the sale of the forty F-16 combat aircraft requested by Turkey for years to modernize its air force.
Pressure on the Swedish government and the EU
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