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As Türkiye Backs Sweden's NATO Bid, Is Erdoğan Shifting More Towards the West?
It was all smiles and handshakes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his US counterpart Joe Biden, on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Lithuania. Biden thanked Erdogan for backing Sweden's bid into NATO. Shortly after their meeting, US officials also announced that work on transferring F-16 fighter jets to Turkiye would move ahead. Slow progress on acquiring the fighters has been a major hurdle between the NATO allies.
The two leaders also touched on other regional issues during their meeting, including continued support for Ukraine. NATO, despite failing to give a specific timetable on Ukraine's membership, did offer new security assurances, including more weapons. Before arriving in Vilnius, President Erdogan met with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying Kiev deserves membership into NATO. During their meeting last week in Istanbul, Erdogan agreed to allow several Ukrainian commanders who were part of a prisoner exchange deal with Russia, to return home. Nearly 500 days have passed since Russian launched its attack on Ukraine, where Turkiye has worked to be a mediating force
Guests:
Ozgur Unluhisarcikli
Ankara Office Director at GMF
Glenn Diesen
Professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway
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