European Parliament rejects Turkey’s NATO-EU barter
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – European Parliament (EP) rejected on Tuesday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s attempt to barter Turkey’s European Union (EU) membership with Sweden’s NATO bid.
In a report, the EP underlined that the two processes were unrelated, and called on the EU to start a reflection process to find an “alternative and realistic framework” in substitution for Turkey’s EU accession process.
The EP urged Turkey “to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership in the Turkish Grand National Assembly as early as possible.”
The EP members underlined that the NATO accession process of one country cannot be linked to the EU accession process of another. Al-Monitor cited a parliamentary source as saying that this was a new amendment to the report, implying that the wording came after Erdogan made the linkage between Sweden’s NATO bid and Turkey’s long-standing bid for EU membership.
“We have recently seen a renewed interest from the Turkish government in reviving the EU accession process. This will not happen as a result of geopolitical bargaining, but when Turkish authorities show real interest in stopping the continuous backsliding in fundamental freedoms and the rule of law,” the EP’s Turkey rapporteur, Nacho Sanchez Amor, said after his report was accepted 47 in favor, none against, and 10 abstentions in the EP Foreign Affairs Committee. It will come before the general assembly in the fall, according to al-Monitor.
On July 10, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the Turkish President had agreed to submit Sweden’s request to join NATO to the Turkish parliament. “President Erdogan has agreed to forward Sweden’s accession protocol to the Grand National Assembly [the Turkish parliament] as soon as possible and ensure ratification,” he tweeted.
Finland and Sweden formally applied to join NATO in May 2022 prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February but were met with huge rejection from Turkey and Hungary. But Turkey had rejected the two Nordic countries’ bid under the pretext that they support the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG). However, in March, Turkey hindered Sweden from joining NATO but ratified Finland’s bid.