TR Monitor

After the veto issue, who will prevail?

ZEYNEP GURCANLI

AT THE MADRID NATO SUMMIT, the Alliance’s response to global threats in the next decade was determined. NATO is preparing itself for a time when Russia will become a “regional power” and China will be the alliance’s main adversary. NATO will take precautions not only against known military threats, but also against threats from cyber and space, the climate crisis, mass migrations related to it, and the fight against terrorism.

However, Turkey did not speak to these issues at the Madrid summit. Rather, they spoke of the veto card held by the AK Party government - mostly for domestic political reasons - against Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership. As a result, even though President Erdogan said, ”They can’t join NATO as long as I’m in charge,” just a month ago, Turkey’s veto was lifted.

FIRST CAME BIDEN’S CALL

It would not be wrong to say that the process of removing the possibility of a veto started with a phone call from US President Joe Biden. Just before Erdogan’s departure to Madrid, the Turkish public via a Presidential statement learned that the two leaders had spoken on the phone. Erdogan also stated that he may later have the opportunity to meet with Biden in Madrid. This also came to fruition.

Upon his arrival in Madrid, Erdogan attended a four-way summit with the President of Finland and the Prime Minister of Sweden, as well as the NATO Secretary General. At the end of the meeting, which lasted for hours, it was announced that Sweden, Finland and Turkey agreed on a joint memorandum of understanding, and Ankara lifted its veto.

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE AGREEMENT, AND WHAT IS NOT?

The AK Party government and the pro-government press in Turkey presented the memorandum as a “victory” to the public. Was it really?

The devil is in the details, and it is possible to find many “evil details” in the agreement.

When the AK Party government said it would veto the NATO memberships of Sweden and Finland, it stipulated that the support to the PKK terrorist organization and its Syrian extension, PYD -YPG, should be halted. In the text of the reconciliation, Sweden and Finland openly stated that they recognize the PKK as a “terrorist organization”. However, since the PKK is already on the European Union’s “terrorist organization list” and Finland and Sweden have already recognized this list as EU countries, there is nothing new here.

On the subject of the PYD-YPG, the first “evil detail” emerges. AK Party officials, especially Erdogan, prefer to use the term “PKK-PYD” to emphasize that the PKK and PYD -YPG are extensions of each other. However, the PKK and PYD-YPG are separated from each other in the text of the agreement between Sweden and Finland. The two countries that recognize the PKK as a “terrorist organization” do not take the same stance regarding the PYD-YPG. They just say that “no support will be given” to the PYD -YPG.

The agreement on FETO is even more “devil-ish.” In order to not officially declare FETO a “terrorist organization”, Sweden and Finland use the following expression in the text; “The organization Turkey defines as FETO.” In other words, there is no commitment to recognizing members of the group as terrorists. Just as they did with the PYD -YPG, they specifically avoided calling both FETO and PYD -YPG “terrorists” with confusing diplomatic statements.

The only net gain in the text is that both Sweden and Finland have made a commitment to lift their overt/covert arms embargo against Turkey.

Of course, the fact that US President Biden’s attention was finally grabbed can also be seen as a “plus” from the point of view of the government. As a matter of fact, Biden congratulated the three countries with a tweet right after the announcement of the memorandum of understanding. It is a coincidence, of course, that neither Erdogan’s name nor his visage are included. Biden posted a photo of the Finnish President and the Swedish Prime Minister with his Twitter post.

The written statement made by the Presidency of Finland, right after the announcement of the text, practically declares that the agreement will become “out-ofdate” from the outset. The Finnish presidency declared to the public that, “Finland will naturally continue to act according to its own laws.” Whatever the text says, the main thing is the country’s own legislation. Didn’t the AK Party government find that legislation too tolerant of terrorists?

As we said, the devil is in the details.Even though the veto issue, which was transformed into a domestic policy issue, will be reflected as a “victory” in the next few days, it is highly likely that the speeches by those in power on this issue will turn into, “They do not keep their promises,” and then, “We were deceived,” within a few months.

COULD GREEK CYPRUS JOIN NATO?

While a wave of “nationalism” was created in domestic public opinion in Turkey through the veto threat against Sweden and Finland, another development in Madrid created the opposite effect.

Turkey, a NATO member, does not recognize Greek Cypriots who are members of the European Union. The country also opposes the Greek Cypriots’ acting as if they were the sole ruler of the island and their joining NATO. Greek Cypriots, who want to become NATO members, on the other hand, use every opportunity to overcome Ankara’s veto. The Madrid summit also witnessed this conflict, but this time the outcome was in favor of the Greeks.

FOREIGN POLICY

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2022-07-04T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-07-04T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://trmonitor.pressreader.com/article/281663963707652

NASIL BIR EKONOMI MEDYA HABER BASIN A.S. (Turkey)