Nadeyin-Rajewski called the cancellation of Swedish defense minister’s visit part of Turkey’s bargaining with the U.S.
The cancellation of the Swedish Defense Minister’s visit to Turkey is part of Ankara’s bargaining not only with Stockholm, but also with Washington, the Turks want a return to the fighter jets supply program, said Victor Nadein-Raevsky, a senior researcher at the Primakov IMEMO RAS to RIA Novosti.
Earlier, Turkey’s National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that the visit of his Swedish counterpart scheduled for January 27 had been canceled. The head of the Swedish Defense Ministry was supposed to discuss in Ankara Stockholm’s application for NATO membership, which Turkey has not yet ratified.
“Undoubtedly, Turkey bargains: it beats out the delivery of F-16s, if not the return to the F-35 program. But there is an attempt on the part of the U.S. to give them back their fighter jets because there is a threat that Turks will go back to Russia and start buying their fighter jets. But these concessions are not enough from the point of view of the Turks,” said Nadein-Rayevsky.
“This is the reason (the demonstrations in Stockholm – ed.) that the Turks used: because the goals were not achieved more deployed, they used these performances to put pressure on both Sweden and the United States. This is a multidimensional policy, the Turks never set themselves one goal,” concluded the expert.
The U.S. had earlier excluded Turkey from the program of supplying the latest F-35 fighter jets as punishment for the purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan later announced an American offer to buy other fighters, but not fifth, but fourth generation – F-16s. The deal is yet to be approved by Congress, where it has influential opponents.
