Turkey is anticipated to send the final instrument of ratification for Sweden’s NATO membership to Washington within days, now that President Tayyip Erdogan signed it off, in a move Ankara wishes will clear the path to its buying of U.S. F-16 fighter jets. A source known with the problem explained well that the document could be deposited as early as Friday, being the only left step in a process that started in 2022. After 20 months of delay, Turkey moved fastly this week to ratify the Swedish bid, with parliamentary ratification coming on Tuesday and President Tayyip Erdogan signing off on the agreement on Thursday.
As per formal NATO rules, the final document in the process – the instrument of ratification – requires to be deposited in the U.S. State Department archives in Washington. Turkey’s backing, long seen as the sole issue in saving Sweden’s accession into the western military alliance, leaves Hungary as the only ally in the military alliance yet to ratify the Swedish bid. Both Erdogan and members of the U.S. Congress had previously connected Ankara’s final approval of Sweden to the $20 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16s and modernization kits to Turkey.
Shortly after the Turkish parliament’s vote, U.S. President Joe Biden sent a letter to governers of important Capitol Hill committees to inform them of his intention to begin the formal notification process for the F-16 sale once Ankara completes Sweden’s NATO accession process. The U.S. Ambassador to Turkey told Reuters on Thursday that he anticipated Washington to take fast steps toward U.S. Congress endorsement of the sale, with the State Department sending the formal notification to Congress immediately.