Despite agreement on northern expansion, old conflicts remain. But domestically, the President needs a triumph.
“No empty talk”, he wants to see action from Finland and Sweden, said the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoganon his departure for Nato-Summit in Madrid. A few hours later, he dropped his threat of vetoing the accession of the two northerners after they took tougher action against the Kurdish underground organization PKK and promised an end to their arms embargo on Ankara. As an additional reward for Erdoğan, US President voted Joe Biden to a personal meeting. For Erdoğan, the result is useful domestically. However, the problems between Turkey and its western NATO partners will not be solved.
In May, he alarmed NATO with the threat of a veto on northern expansion. Erdoğan accused Finland and Sweden of tolerating PKK supporters and members of his archenemy Fethullah Gülen’s movement and of supporting the Syrian PKK offshoot YPG. Ankara called for the extradition of Turkish government opponents from the two countries and for a tightening of terrorism laws in Finland and Sweden.