There is a planning of Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson‘s go to to Türkiye, Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar stated on Wednesday.
“There is a planning. We are following the process. It will be determined according to the developments,” Akar instructed the reporters on the parliament within the capital Ankara.
Türkiye known as on Sweden to take steps in opposition to terror teams after final week’s demonstration within the capital Stockholm, the place supporters of the PKK terrorist group hung in effigy by the toes a determine of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after which uploaded footage of the provocation together with threats in opposition to Türkiye and Erdoğan, full with Turkish subtitles.
Sweden and Finland formally utilized to affix NATO final May, abandoning many years of army non-alignment, a call spurred by Russia’s battle on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24.
But Türkiye-a NATO member for greater than 70 years-voiced objections, accusing the 2 international locations of tolerating and even supporting terror teams, together with the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).
Last June, Türkiye and the 2 Nordic international locations signed a memorandum at a NATO summit to handle Ankara’s official safety issues, paving the way in which for his or her eventual membership within the alliance.
Akar stated Türkiye helps the open door coverage of NATO, including: “We expect Sweden and Finland to fulfill their commitments in the memorandum as soon as possible.”
F-16 FIGHTER JETS TALKS WITH U.S.
Akar stated Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who’s at the moment in Washington, will talk about the F-16 fighter jets sale to Türkiye with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“At the purpose we have now reached, we observe that the problem is progressing in a optimistic approach. We get the required data. Our shut cooperation with the US Secretary of Defense continues.”
“In the inter-delegation and bilateral meetings, we expressed that we expect positive and concrete results as soon as possible,” he added.
Türkiye hailed the current U.S. transfer to exclude sure provisions within the remaining textual content of the U.S. protection finances on the sale of F-16s to Ankara. Amendments launched within the U.S. House of Representatives, in addition to making gross sales of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye contingent on a collection of circumstances, have been eliminated within the remaining protection spending invoice.
Ankara requested F-16s and modernization kits in October 2021. The $6-billion deal would come with the sale of 40 jets, in addition to modernization kits for 79 warplanes that the Turkish Air Force already has in its stock.
About his current go to to the UK, Akar stated he had “positive and constructive” bilateral and inter-delegation conferences.
“We continue our efforts to cooperate in the defense industry, military education cooperation, and many other fields. We expect positive results from there as well,” he added.
