US President Joe Biden announced on the 1st that Sweden will soon join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
On this day, President Biden said in a speech at the US Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs, “Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to cause cracks in the alliance with his attack on Ukraine, NATO is stronger .” I promise,” he added.
Now trust this man! 🤪 “Biden: Promises that Sweden will soon be a NATO member” pic.twitter.com/ysOmN5zVd6
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President Biden continued, “Finland recently joined NATO, and as Sweden joins NATO soon, the NATO alliance will be further strengthened.”
■ ‘F-16 deal’ with Turkey
Sweden, along with Finland, applied for NATO membership last year, but has failed to pass the ratification process, which requires the consent of all current member states.
This is due to the opposition of Turkey and Hungary, and it is understood that the proposed issue has been resolved through negotiations with Hungary, but Turkey’s refusal is strong.
Regarding this, President Biden has suggested that he is negotiating with Turkey regarding the sale of F-16 fighter jets.
President Biden told reporters on the 29th of last month, “I had a phone call with Erdogan (President of Turkey) today to congratulate (the victory in the presidential election),” and he said, “He still wanted to resolve something about the F. -16 fighter, but I “We wanted a deal with Sweden and we want to finish the matter.”
See also: Erdogan hopes for F-16…Biden “Of Sweden’s deal to join NATO”
■ Abandoning a neutral policy after the start of the war in Ukraine
Sweden, which has adhered to military non-alignment and neutrality, applied for NATO membership with Finland in May last year.
It was about three months after the Russian invasion of the Ukraine.
However, joining NATO by both countries has been delayed as preconditions include the return of members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey, a former member state, has designated as a terrorist group , and the withdrawal of the arms embargo. against the country.
As NATO is a multilateral security system based on a mutual defense agreement that requires the deployment of its own armed forces in case of an emergency, in order to accept a new member, it must be ratified by the parliaments of all current members.
Finland became the 31st member country in April after obtaining the consent of all 30 current member states after negotiations.
See also: ‘joining Finland’ expands NATO to 31 member states…Russia-Belarus summit on 5th, likely to discuss nuclear arms transfer
However, Sweden has yet to get an agreement from Turkey and Hungary.
■ Are there any opportunities to discuss before July?
In the midst of this, Foreign Minister Mevlut Chaushollu Türkiye was absent from the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting held in Oslo, Norway for two days from the 31st of last month.
The meeting between Turkiye and the Swedish foreign minister failed to directly discuss the issue of Sweden’s accession to NATO.
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Swedish media ‘Svenska Dagbladet’ reported, “Given that this meeting is the last official meeting between member countries before the NATO summit in July, the possibility that Sweden’s NATO membership will be delayed once again has increased .”
The Swedish government expects to complete the accession process before the NATO summit in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, in July.
The US government also wants Sweden to join NATO before July.
■ A joint defense organization led by the United States
NATO is a joint defense organization launched in 1949 with the participation of 12 member states, including the United States, Canada, and 10 European countries.
Since then, as the East-West Cold War intensified between the United States and the Soviet Union, the number of member countries increased to 16, and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1990, Eastern countries joined Europe in droves, expanding the number to 26.
Status of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO · NATO). The blue area represents the current 30 member states. Sweden and Finland, in red, have recently gone through the admission process. Finland became the 31st member country in April, but Sweden has been unable to get the consent of Turkey and others. The yellow area is other countries that wanted to join. [클릭하시면 크게 보실 수 있습니다.]
In 2014, after Russia forcibly annexed the Ukrainian territory of the Crimean Peninsula, additional Balkan countries joined, and Finland joined this year to make the current 31-nation system.
The situation was contrary to Russian President Putin’s intention to block the expansion and movement of NATO to the east.
Members of the United States and NATO have rallied against Russia’s attack on Ukraine, which has been ongoing since February last year.
Other major Western countries have also stepped in with NATO.
This is VOA News Jongsu Oh.
